Stargate Millennium: Redemption
by StargateMillennium
Summary: A new spin-off: It looks like Doctor Jay Felger is now part of the Millennium Expedition and it's up to Jennifer Hailey and Steven Chen to help him before he screw up again. Felger's going to have to overcome his issues or they will all suffer the consequences.
1. Chapter 1

It was another day in the city of Millennium, once the crown jewel of the Alliance of Four Great Races. The nebula that housed it had begun another day cycle, the clouds glowing to mimic sunlight. The expedition had gotten up to perform their usual duties. Expedition teams prepared to explore new planets, scientists studied the countless alien technologies in the city.

Major Terra Nova was back in her wood shop, her left arm in a sling after what happened during her last mission. Whenever she wanted time to herself she would come here to work on her next project. But, with her left arm out of commission, there was only so much she could do. Most of the machines required two hands for safety and she could barely even feel the fingers in her left. With not much to do, she pulled out the wooden chest she had made and begun rubbing the coarse sand paper over its surface with her right hand. She always did prefer to do woodwork by hand anyways.

"Terra?" a voice called out. Nova looked up and watched as Corin walked into the room, his hands in the pockets of his blue hoodie.

"Corin, what're you doing here?" Nova asked. "You've never come here before."

"Well, I didn't really know where this place was," Corin Nevec explained. He always knew Terra would isolate herself in her woodshop but had never bothered looking for it since he knew she wanted to be alone. "I was playing some video games with Charles."

"I'm really beginning to think Martin might not be the best one teaching you about Earth culture."

Corin just shrugged and said, "It's still fun. Just wanted to make sure you're doing good."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nova said with an awkward nod. She had always been so formal and professional that it seemed weird conversing with her teammates on a personal level. Chen was the only one who she felt comfortable around and that was because he was never forceful about it. If there was nothing to talk about he was perfectly fine with just sitting there. In fact, during her entire stay in the infirmary, Chen took every possible opportunity to check up on her even going as far as to sleep on a nearby hospital bed. She didn't expect or even want her other friends to go that far but, still, talking to them on a personal level just seemed weird.

"Look, I appreciate you checking up on me but-"

"What's that?" Corin asked, pointing at a slab of wood laying on the table.

"That was part of my next project," Nova explained. "I've jointed the edges and a face flat but I still need to plane it."

"Uh, what?" Corin coughed, picking up the slab of wood. Nova rolled her eyes. Normally it was the scientists who babbled terms that no one else understood.

"I made the edges and a face of the wood smooth and glued them all together," she translated.

"So what would you do with it now?" Corin asked. Nova paused for a moment. It looked like Coring knew she couldn't really work with one hand so he was offering to help her. She walked over to a button on the wall and pressed it, the dust collector humming to life. She gestured to the large machine in the center. It looked like a massive printer with a metal table right in front of a slot where the wood would be inserted. Nova pressed a button on the side and the machine came on. The room was already so loud that Corin couldn't even hear himself think. He knew Nova liked using hand tools but was beginning to wonder whether it was because she enjoyed the feel or just enjoyed being able to hear.

"I already adjusted the planer to the right height," she explained loudly. "Now feed the board into the slot long ways." Corin nodded and obeyed. He stepped in front of the slot and put the board on the metal surface in front of the slot and slowly slid it in. He could feel the board shift a bit as the gears seized hold of the wood and pulled it in slowly. It was only after the planer had started sawing away at the top layer of the board with a horrible grinding noise did Nova suddenly realize that Corin was standing in the worst spot possible.

"Oh, you might want to step to the side of that!" she called out but her words were lost to the sound of the machine.

"What?!" Corin called back but it was too late. A cloud of sawdust shot out of the machine and into Corin's face. He covered his eyes but the dust continued spraying him. It wasn't until the board finally came out the other side the machine stopped covering him in the fine powder. Nova quickly turned off the machine and the dust collector and looked at Corin. His entire body had been covered in sawdust, his brown hair now looking yellow and his hoodie sprinkled with the powder. He tried to brush it off but he would need a lot more than that to get all the wood shavings out.

"You know," Nova snickered. "You actually look good as a blonde."

-.-

Almost a dozen levels below the gate room was the power core. For safety reasons, the Alliance used several smaller power stations to power the city. The one in the central tower powered central city and Stargate Operations. The circular room was a mess of cables linked to the naquadah generators and the alien power sources the expedition has picked up over the months including the zero-point generator, a pale imitation of the Ancient zero-point modules, and the paragai, a fungus that the Nox have used as a power source. Eloran heat-sinks were devices that were usually strapped to Eloran laser lances, energy weapons that concentrate photons into a thin destructive stream, to prevent the weapons from overheating and melting the gun when fired were now installed to some of their systems to prevent overheating.

And in the center of it all was Jay Felger. Hey may have aged a bit but he still insisted on working with the SGC. He was honored when O'Neill recommended him to the Millennium Expedition. He knew the reputation he carried with him but today was a new day. He was going to change all that.

"What are you doing?"

Felger almost jumped out of his skin when he heard that, not expecting anyone to be down there with him.

"Doctor Dupond!" Felger exclaimed in surprise as a woman in a tech uniform walked in. "What're you doing here?"

"I manage the power systems," she explained suspiciously with a heavy French accent. "What are you doing here?"

Felger stuttered a bit, not sure how to respond. He was so confident in his upgrades but he knew that everyone else would be skeptical.

"Major breakthrough!" he said excitedly, rushing back to his computer. "I've been looking into ways to improve our power usage. If I did this right we should cut our power consumption in half!"

Felger could already imagine everyone's reactions. Their power was doing well for now but they would inevitably have to seek out new power sources again. He could already picture the scientists congratulating him on his upgrades, General Mercer shaking his hand in gratitude. It was beautiful.

"If you did it right," Dupond said flatly, clearly aware of Felger's reputation.

"It'll work!" he repeated, rushing to his computer station. "I've run dozens of simulations on this. Just a few more things and…" Felger hit enter with an excited "There we are!"

Felger watched eagerly as the number representing the rate of power consumption went down. His heart soared. He finally did something right. Then he watched as the power consumption went below the halfway line. Well, there would be a few kinks in the upgrades. The power levels continued sinking and so did Felger's heart.

There was a click as suddenly all the lights went out and the computer monitor went black. He could see the lights down the halls go out as well. He could hear the machines all across the building shut down. He could only guess that the power all across the base had probably gone out too. Even in the dark, he could feel Joan Dupond's angry glare on him.

" _Fils de pute_! What did you do?! You know I'm the one who has to fix this!"

"Um…sorry?" Felger whimpered. Dupond would now have to spend the next hour fixing what he messed up. He would help but he couldn't see anything. "Not again," he whimpered.

Stargate Millennium

General Mercer may have been an old man but he was not one to be reckoned with. Felger sat in front of the General's desk as Mercer continued his paperwork in silence. After a bit of tinkering from Doctor Joan Dupond, the power had been restored. Donavan rolled in and presented the General with the report on the sudden shutdown of the systems. When Felger had first met him, Mercer seemed like such a friendly guy, almost like a grandfather. But now, he could only wait for his wrath.

"Doctor Felger," Mercer finally spoke. "I hope you have an explanation for what just happened."

"Yes, sir," Felger stuttered. He remembered what it was like to be scolded by General Hammond and he could only imagine Mercer exploding in rage. "I was very close to a breakthrough on our power usage. Very close… I thought I could cut our power usage."

"And it appears you succeeded," Mercer stated, looking at the papers. "You reduced our power usage to ten percent. It was fortunate the computer prioritized life support and chose to sacrifice power from everything else."

"I don't understand why it did that," Felger said. "It worked fine in all the simulations. Look, I just need a few more tries. It'll improve the efficiency of our power usage."

"Yes," Mercer said skeptically, pushing aside the papers. "I spoke to Doctor Dupond about that. According to her, the efficiency remained the same."

Felger paled. He was so sure that he had improved the systems, so sure that this was the turning point. Now it looked like another screw up to add to his long list.

"I can fix that!" Felger insisted. "I know what went wrong. I just need to fix a few things; dot a few I's, cross a few T's." He watched Mercer leaned forward. He could feel the old man's eyes piercing through his soul. He had originally been grateful that Mercer had not exploded in fury but now, he would prefer if the General did.

"Only Doctor Dupond and the members of her engineering team are assigned to work with our power supply," Mercer reminded him. "If you really did have a way to improve our power usage, why did you not send it to her for approval?"

Felger's heart could've stopped. He knew that if he came up with an idea that would help the expedition he would have to pass it through the heads of the department. But this would mean sharing the credit. Everywhere he went, Felger has been recognized as a complete failure. Even if he would get partial credit if his upgrades worked, he wouldn't get enough to change his reputation. He wanted people to stop looking at him and see a child playing with matches near a powder keg. Hammond, Landry, O'Neill, they have all wanted to be rid of him.

"I am very familiar with your reputation, Doctor," Mercer said slowly. "Back in the SGC the option of firing you came up several times. However, we are in a different galaxy so I will not 'fire' you from your position."

"Oh thank god," Felger breathed.

"That being said, I will not have anyone be dead weight to this expedition. I give you this one warning: if I have to deal with your screw up one more time, I will assign you to the sewage and waste disposal unit instead."

All of a sudden being fired seemed like the ideal punishment. Millennium's waste processing system was thousands of years old, prone to clogging and sometimes they had to find other ways to dispose of waste. They had found a space gate in orbit around a planet with a thick atmosphere and there were debates on whether or not they could send it through and let the waste get incinerated in the planet's atmosphere. But this still meant gathering the stuff.

"Are we clear?" Mercer asked Felger menacingly. All of a sudden this old man seemed like a monster from his nightmares.

"Yes, sir," Felger whimpered.

"Good. You're dismissed."

The General watched as Felger waddled out of his office before giving an irritated sigh. His desk-com beeped as Donavan's voice came on.

"Sir, Doctor Chen's here."

"Send him in."

The door to his office hissed open and Steven Chen steps in. Chen wasn't a prodigy like Carter or Hailey but he got the job done.

"You called, General?" he said cordially. Mercer waited for the door to hiss shut before speaking.

"Doctor, I was hoping to ask a favor from you."

"A favor…" Chen repeated. General Mercer was the leader of the expedition. What he says, goes.

"I can make it an order if you'd like."

Chen slowly took a seat, not sure where this conversation was going.

"I am sure you are familiar with Jay Felger," Mercer explained. He could see Chen instantly cringe at the name. Chen had stayed on Millennium instead of going back to Earth but if he had he probably would've made sure Felger never set foot inside the city of Millennium.

"I really wish I wasn't. This isn't about yesterday's blackout, is it?"

"Doctor, at the moment your team is suspended from off-world exploration until Major Nova fully recovers from her injuries. I would like you to oversee Felger's projects until that time."

Chen stuttered in protest, not sure where to start. "Why me?"

"As I said, your team is suspended from exploration until Major Nova recovers."

"Well, what do you want me to do?!"

"At best, see if you can…mentor him."

"Mentor him?!" Chen repeated. "Colonel Carter couldn't mentor him. What do you think I can do?"

"I am not sure but he is better off learning from you rather than preparing his next failure," Mercer explained. "Colonel Carter has always attested to his potential. Or are you saying you know more than Samantha Carter?"

Chen felt like he just swallowed a rock. Carter had faith in Felger and was willing to give him chances but Chen had no faith in the man. He would sooner trust a child to defuse a bomb than trust Felger to get something right. Still, he could not bring himself to openly question Carter's opinion on something, a woman who is clearly his superior.

"Fine," he said stiffly. Chen could not help but feel he got played as a smile spread across General Mercer's face.

"So glad we can see eye to eye," the old man said.

-.-

Lunch came and Chen could've splatted his face into his fried rice. He had no idea what he could do to help Felger. He could've been assigned to teach a dog how to program a computer and he would still yield better results.

"Look, the General said you don't _have to_ teach him," Martin said after Chen told him about what happened. "Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Chen looked at Martin.

"Stupid is what he does," Chen barked. "If we could measure stupidity they would be measured in Felgers."

Martin continued eating his cereal. Weetabix always gets soggy real quick so he couldn't just let it sit in the milk.

"What does Corin have to say about this?" Martin asked.

"Haven't seen him all day," Chen had begun to say when he spotted Corin and Nova approaching the table, trays of food in hand.

"Hey, what I miss?" Corin asked sitting down. Martin and Chen didn't answer, both of them staring wide-eyed at Nova when she sat down with him.

"What?" she asked, taking a seat next to Corin.

"It's just that…" Chen said.

"You never eat with us," Martin finished. Nova shrugged and looked at her team.

"Maybe I just changed my mind," she said casually. "What's going on here?" Chen and Martin exchanged glances, thoroughly creeped out.

"Well," Chen said, clearing his throat. "Mercer just assigned me to babysit Doctor Felger."

Nova paused when she heard this. "Doctor Felger, as in Jay Fail-ger?" she asked. Even people outside the scientific community knew about him.

"Yeah, I'm babysitting Jay Fail-ger."

"Get the painkillers ready," Corin remarked. He and Martin laughed at this statement. Nova gave a chuckle but she knew that Chen was genuinely frustrated by this and she wanted to help.

"Maybe you're being a little too hard on him," Nova suggested. Chen looked at her as if she just went insane.

"What?" he coughed

"Well, think about what we talked about when I was still in the infirmary," Nova explained. Chen remembered everything they talked about while she was still hospitalized, the similarities of their past, how they both were once screw-ups that destroyed their families but got a second chance to redeem themselves. "Maybe he just never got a second chance…"

Chen put his face in his hands. It would've been so easy just to simply dismiss Felger as a failure and an idiot. If he really was going to mentor Felger, he was going to need help. Had this been at the SGC, he would've sought Carter for help. But Carter was not around; he will have to settle for the next best thing.

-.-

Jennifer Hailey was back in her lab. Like Carter before her, she truly found the scientific advances made by the stargate fascinating. And the one thing she loved screwing around with most of all were the weapons. She had one of every alien weapon discovered thus far lined up on a rack beside her. Ror'char ion rifle, storm rifle, blast cannon, and carnifex pistols; Quinteran marauder rifles; an Eloran laser lance; even Fierri trazer rifles and trazer pistols.

Hailey picked up the laser lance and aimed it at the thick steel beam down the testing range. With a quick pull of the trigger, a beam of blue light streaked out of the rifle and hit the beam, the laser beam hitting its target with a violent bang, smoke and sparks flying from the impact while molten metal splashed across the floor. She looked up and examined the target as the smoke cleared. The steel beam now had a crater the size of an apple in it where the steel had been instantly melted and splattered everywhere.

She didn't know where to start when it came to fangirling over this weapon, this particle accelerator that fired a concentrated beam of photons at its target. The photons oscillated at a wavelength that would make it invisible to the human eye but excess photons still flew out of the beam at a wavelength human could see, hence the blue light.

A wolf whistle suddenly echoed from her doorway. Hailey glanced behind her to see Chen standing there, staring at the damage wrought by the laser lance. While the Ror'char weapons were better that still didn't mean the other alien weapons they found couldn't also be terrifyingly powerful.

"Can I come in or am I gonna get fried?" Chen asked, still staring at the steel beam.

"Nah, you can come in," she said, placing the lance back onto the rack. Chen stepped into the room but immediately wanted to run out.

"Dear god, what is that smell?!" he coughed, waving his hand in front of his nose. "Have you been doing this all day?"

Hailey shrugged at this question. "This is what I do for fun," she remarked. "You do martial arts; I shoot laser guns."

"Yeah, but my punching bags don't smell like burnt metal afterwards," Chen retorted. He looked at the rack of weapons Hailey had. She had been assigned to study these alien weapons so they could make improvements to the X699 or maybe develop other energy weapons. Chen could see the original X699 and the finalized product. It was amazing just how ugly the prototype looked, a giant plastic handlebar with a naquadah generator sitting on top and a blue glowing barrel. The naquadah generator was practically screaming 'shoot me' and one shot could not only destroy the weapon but cause it to explode in the wielder's hands. The glowing barrels looked cool but, once again, screamed 'shoot me' to the enemy. The finalized rifle was sleek and elegant. The overall design and shape was clearly inspired by the P90 but it had a much longer barrel and grip.

The steel bar was not the only thing Hailey had been testing down range. There were also plastic mannequins, paper targets, she had even set up a suit of Ror'char armor to test its limits. This was the instrument of their alien enemy that has caused them so much trouble: half full-body suit of armor that could absorb an absurd number of bullets, half powered exoskeleton that enhanced the wearer's performance, not enough to give them super speed or super strength but enough that they could push themselves to their limits without ever having to worry about fatigue.

This was actually the first time Chen got a good look at the armor worn by the Ror'char troopers. In the field, he was usually too busy doing something else, like surviving, to get a proper look and, even when he did, the armor was partially covered by a vest lined with pouches and pockets that would hold the trooper's equipment. But they were in the lab and Hailey had removed the vest. Now getting a good look at the armor it looked like a suit of armor worn by medieval warriors, like something worn by a knight or a samurai. Massive rectangular shields were attached to spaulders on the upper arm which would protect the trooper when firing. Chen could see the dents and scratches made by several dozen bullets. The trooper's entire arm would've been protected by this massive spaulder and by the bracers around the forearms; even the hands had metal gauntlets on them. The plates that composed the cuirass were scratched and dented from the battle that killed the trooper who wore it. Sturdy greaves protected the legs while interwoven metal plates protected the thighs.

Chen picked up the helmet, which sat on Hailey's desk. The thing was almost like a motorcycle helmet, the chin guard thinner and the tinted visor large enough that it would show the whole front of the face when lifted. He knew this helmet contained all the computer equipment needed to run the HUD and the machinery inside the trooper's power-armor.

As Chen put the helmet back down he peeked at a letter on her desk, quickly glancing over the text. It appears that Mercer had given Hailey permission to use the X699 on missions from here on out. He had dictated that every team needed to carry one alien weapon to even the odds against this galaxy's new threats and, after the destruction of Hailey's blast cannon, she has chosen to use the SGC's newest plasma rifle.

Hailey cleared her throat, making it clear that she did not appreciate Chen snooping around her lab.

"Is there something you needed?" she asked.

"Help," he said. "I've kinda been assigned to mentor Felger until my team's patched up."

"Well good luck with that one," Hailey scoffed wide-eyed. She certainly did not envy his position. "Wait a minute," she muttered, realizing that Chen came here to ask for help, not vent. "Aw, no! No!"

"Yes," Chen said bluntly.

"You want me to help you with Felger?"

"Carter always had faith in him."

"I'm not Sam."

"No, but you're the closest damn thing we got," Chen said. Even in her lab, Hailey's friendship with Samantha Carter was obvious. The most blaring example was a picture of her and Carter on their motorcycles during a night out on the town. "Both our teams are still out of commission. Terra's still hurt and McFree's still under psychological evaluation. I was picked since I have the most time followed by you, but I can't do this alone. Besides, let's face it. If we don't whip Felger into shape now, he'll be giving us trouble down the line. The way I see it, we're gonna have to deal with Felger eventually so we might as well do it sooner than later."

Hailey glared at Chen. She did not want to deal with the headache of Fail-ger but Steven was right.

"Alright," she conceded. "What do you have mind? What can we do that Carter hasn't?"

Chen fell silent. There was a reason doing something that SG-1 couldn't is considered an impossible feat. If they do this they would be doing something Samantha Carter never could.

"Well," Chen said. "She was a bit soft on him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Carter always said that Felger needed a little support; she tried to help him in an office, a lab, a place where he never felt pressure. Maybe if his life was on the line he might do things a bit different."

"As much as I would relish the opportunity, I don't think Mercer will let us put a gun to Felger's head," Hailey remarked as she sat down on a stool.

"Maybe not a real one. We brought VR training pods after our return from Earth. Do you think Mercer will allow us to run a sim of us and Felger trying to solve a problem while under fire?"

"You think that'll actually work?" Hailey asked.

"People work miracles with the right incentives," Chen shrugged. "You, the cadets you helped train, you guys were a mess until they put you in a position where you thought you had to face the real thing. You got taken to a moon. They thought they were facing a real foothold situation. Maybe Felger just needs to feel the pressure."

Hailey shrugged at this. They would have to ask Mercer permission to do all this but it was worth a shot.

-.-

The VR chairs were already set up in a lab near the base of the central city. Going down there was the equivalent of going into the catacombs of a city, but it certainly was a beautiful maze of tunnels, marble green white walls, pearly white pears acting as lights in the ceiling, and even a nice red carpet on the floor. The whole city had always looked like it was built with the most expensive minerals and gemstones on Earth.

Chen was already in the lab, boredly laying on a desk for Felger's arrival. Hailey was kicked back and was sorting through data on her tablet, which looked more like a pane of orange crystal. Kara Osborn finished setting up the medical equipment around the chairs before looking back at Steven.

"Can tell you look optimistic about this plan," she remarked as two technicians made sure the chairs were properly set up. Chen gave her a sideways glance, looking only half awake.

"I'm trying to train Doctor Felger," he muttered. "That tends to damper your mood."

"And I certainly do not pity you for that," she said. "But must you always use violence to solve things?" Chen looked at Kara as if she had asked the most ridiculous question in history.

"It's a VR," he said. "It's fake violence. Besides, I'm just worried he'll Felger it up and break something."

"It'll be safe once we're inside," Hailey remarked. "He just needs to get here in time."

"You didn't know?" Chen asked. "He never gets here in time."

As if to confirm Chen's statement, Felger practically rammed head-first into the door frame before stumbling in.

"I'm sorry!" he panted. He knew he was late and had to run across the city to get here. "Had this big project to finish and didn't want to leave it. Very important project…"

"I'm sure," Chen remarked flatly. He then noticed a small group of five people including Umar and Nova peeking around the corner. They had just watched Felger run in and wanted to know what was happening.

"God give me strength," Chen groaned. Not only did he have to deal with Felger but he had to have people watch him.

"So...uh...what's going on?" Felger asked ignoring the crowd. He knew half of them were watching him to see what his next screw up was to laugh at him and the other half were watching to see his next screw up to protect themselves from him. Hailey put down her tablet and stood up.

"General Mercer's assigned Chen to overwatch your activities," she said.

"Yeah, he explained to me. I mean, like, it won't be necessary. I'll be fine."

"We'll see," Chen said, sitting up. Felger hadn't even noticed him and paled as he got off the desk. "Here's the situation: you me and Hailey are going to have a few runs in the VR chairs. The current scenario we have loaded will have us infiltrate a lightly guarded Goa'uld stronghold where you will hack their computers and download some information. We get in, do our stuff, and get out."

"But…" Felger protested. "I'm part of the research team." At the moment, Felger was assigned to study retrieved alien technology and try to recreate them. While he could do things like hack a Goa'uld computer, a task he has done before, it wouldn't help him get any better in the lab.

"Yeah, but you were also once part of a field research team The hacking part of the sim is easier than what you usually do and the whole point is to see how you do under pressure. If you can accomplish this we can change the parameters of the VR to be more research based."

"Besides," Hailey added. "If you do good in the chairs, you might get added to a field or exploration team."

"Wait," Felger called out suddenly. "Aren't these the chairs that trapped Teal'c inside and nearly killed him?"

"Teal'c requested his scenario be set to its hardest difficulty and learn from him," Osborn explained. "His subconscious also wanted the consequences of getting killed to be as extreme as possible."

"We've set the scenario on medium difficulty," Chen explained. "And we've put fail safes so we can't accidentally kill ourselves. The software engineers have also patched the program so that you only need to concentrate hard enough and the chairs will boot everyone from the VR."

"Well, why the jaffa?" Felger asked, still wanting a way out of this. "Aren't we fighting the Ror'char?"

"We still haven't fought the Ror'char enough times to learn about their fighting styles or tactics," Hailey remarked. "Plus...the Ror'char are kinda harder to fight."

"It would be nice to finally fight something that doesn't need an entire mag to kill," Chen commented. "You think you can handle this?"

Felger scoffed at this question as if Chen had just asked if he could perform basic math.

"I got this!" he said smoothly as the technicians helped him into a chair. "I once rescued SG-1 from the First Prime Her'ak. I zatted a jaffa!"

The VR helmet slid on just as he said that, giving Chen and Hailey breathe a sigh of relief.

" _I zatted a jaffa_ ," Chen parroted. He couldn't tell if Felger was just trying to sound badass or if he believed his own nonsense. Everyone else was clearly amused by this statement and the moment he was in the VR, people started chuckling at what he said.

"Let's go," Hailey said, giving Chen a slap on the shoulder. She was helped to her chair as Chen stared at Nova, who still had her left arm in a sling.

"I blame you for this," he said flatly to her. He wouldn't have needed to baby Felger if Nova wasn't this badly injured.

Chen sat down in the VR chair and leaned back as the technicians hooked him up. He closed his eyes as the helmet was put on. He could feel the surge of electricity go through his body and when he opened his eyes he was not in a room in Millennium but outside in a forest with Hailey and Felger.

Hailey prepped her X699 while Chen cocked his M16. Felger stared at his pistol whimsically, wishing he had something bigger.

"C'mon," Chen said, pointing toward the pyramid in the distance. "Let's get this done."

"You know what, Chen?" Hailey chirped up. "I actually have a good feeling about this." She figured if Chen wasn't going to be optimistic she would be. "C'mon, how bad could it get?"

-.-

The doors to the computer chamber slid open and Felger dove inside as orange bolts of energy streaked into the room. Horus guards were in hot pursuit of them and Hailey and Chen rushed inside, taking cover behind the door frame. Hailey peeked out for a brief moment and fired on one of the jaffa, pelting him with energy bolts that flew through him like jello.

"Get to work, Felger!" Chen yelled.

"Just a game," Felger muttered to himself as he crawled to the computer console at the back of the room. Goa'uld text had been scrolling down the screen and the moment he touched the controls the screen rearranged itself and waited for input.

Chen peeked out from around the corner and fired a quick burst into one of the horus guards who toppled over in a storm of sparks. That's two jaffas down but three more rounded the corner. As Chen dove back behind cover he noticed Hailey with a massive grin on her mouth.

"What are you smiling at?" he asked.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Just like old times, huh?" Chen snorted with mild amusement. He did have to admit, it did bring back memories of the good old days of just weeding out the last remaining Goa'uld and their jaffa.

He and Hailey both stepped out of cover and fired on the jaffa closest to them. Sparks flew out of the metal armor as bullets riddled his body while the other had the energy bolts go into his body and exit the other end with a brilliant flash of light, ash and ember exploding out of the exit wound.

Seeing his comrades fall, the third jaffa quickly withdrew from the hallway. He would need to wait for backup.

"Got it!" Felger yelled, yanking the memory crystal from the interface. Chen and Hailey exchanged surprised but optimistic glances when he yelled this. They had expected Felger to mess it up but he got it. Now all they had to do was get to the stargate. Even if he couldn't be part of the research team maybe he could be part of an exploration team or field team if he kept this up.

"Kree'nok, Jaffa!" a voice down the hallway yelled as a golden urn was thrown into the room, a glass panel on the urn flashing madly. It didn't take them long to realize that this thing on the ground was a grenade.

The moment Felger saw the grenade, he knew what he had to do. He knew the reason O'Neill recommended him to the Millennium Expedition was to get rid of him. He knew his reputation as a failure, laughed at by both military personnel and scientists. He knew he was nothing but a pain to both his boss and his co-workers. They had put him in this simulation because they did not think he could do even the simplest task. He needed something to turn his reputation around and this was it. He could already see Hailey preparing to grab the grenade and toss it back at the jaffa while Chen prepared to kick it out of the room. It was normal for them to do something like this but if he did it, it could be the first step to turning everything around. He could already see them applauding him for his quick thinking.

Felger lunged forward and grabbed the grenade before either of his teammates could touch it.

"Felger, wait!" Chen called out but it was too late. He raised the grenade far above his head and, with a triumphant yell, threw it as hard as he could. This was it, this was the moment everything changes. But as the alien grenade left his hand his excitement turned to horror. He had angled his throw too high; way too high. The metal urn bounced off the top of the doorframe with a clank and bounced back at Felger who just barely managed to catch it in his arms.

Felger prepared to throw it again while Hailey raced to do it for him. Chen didn't even bother, knowing that Felger had used up the grenade's detonation time. Steven barely even had a chance to utter "Crap," before the grenade exploded.

-.-

If this had happened in real life then it would've been a morbid situation that everyone would mourn. Had Felger made a screwup like this in real life, everyone would be enraged. But this was a virtual training simulation, a video game, and outside the VR everyone in the room burst out laughing at what they just witnessed on the monitors.

"You know," Nova said to Umar. "I actually thought he was going to make it."

"I'm almost glad he didn't," Umar replied. Even through his monotone voice and heavy Nigerian accent, Nova could hear his amusement. "This is going to be quite enjoyable."

"I'll make some popcorn!"

-.-

Hailey was beginning to wish this chair wasn't programmed so well. It was designed so that no two rounds are the same, jaffa guard locations different, hallways different, even their tactics different. This way it made sure the victory was through tactics and not simple memorization.

The computer console was more heavily guarded and they were now fighting twice as many jaffa. Felger was whimpering as his teammates held off the enemy forces, trying to ignore the chaos as he worked.

This was easy, at least it would've been if he could concentrate.

"Just a game," he muttered. "All not real, you'll just restart if you die…"

"Felger, what's taking so long?!" Chen yelled. It was now taking him twice as long to get the data. He prepared to fire again but suddenly the door began to close. He and Hailey stepped back as the door shut, sealing the jaffa outside and another door at the opposite end of the room opened.

"What just happened?" Hailey stuttered. They both looked at Felger for an explanation.

"I was able to hack their security systems!" he boasted, a smile on his face. He finally did something right. "I've closed every door in the pyramid but left a path for us to get out!"

"Felger, that's…" Hailey tried to say but her voice trailed off.

"Brilliant," Chen finished. Felger's face lit up with pride. They actually complimented him. Getting Hailey's compliment was especially amazing since she was handpicked by Samantha Carter.

"Come on," Jennifer said, tapping Chen on the back. The three of them raced down the hallway. It was obvious where to go since all other ways were blocked off. If Felger had done this right then this would lead them straight outside.

"What the?!" Chen exclaimed when he saw that the door ahead of them was shut. The trio stopped in front of the dead end, not sure what to do.

"Did we miss a door?!" Hailey shouted.

"Impossible," Chen said. "No way all three of us went past an open doorway without realizing it." They both stopped and glared at Felger, who turned pale. He was so sure he had done it right.

"This shouldn't be happening!" he said. "I closed all the doors except the ones to the exit."

"Obviously not," Hailey snapped.

"Jaffa, Kree!" a voice echoed down the hallway. At least one patrol had finally blasted through the sealed door and was racing down the hall.

"Alright, back up," Jennifer said. "I'm going to use a grenade to blow open the door."

"No point anymore," Steven replied bluntly, taking out a pistol, pushing the barrel into Felger's face, and pulling the trigger. If even one player died the sim would restart so this action was simply the reset button.

"Damn that felt good," Chen muttered as the game restart.

-.-

In the next round, the trio found themselves engaged in yet another firefight. They hoped to sneak past the guards but Felger's clumsiness had tipped them off. Hailey and Chen fired down the hallway at the five jaffa. Even Felger had taken out his pistol and began firing at the enemy. That was until his trigger suddenly got stuck. He looked at the gun in confusion. He wasn't out of ammo, the trigger was stuck.

"Hailey," he called out, tapping her on the shoulder. "Gun's stuck, what do I do?!"

Hailey groaned in annoyance that she had to stop to help Felger with his pistol. She took it from him and immediately spotted the problem. The bullet shell had gotten stuck while being ejected from the chamber. Felger was not used to guns except in video games. For him, you pull the trigger and they shoot. He has never seen a gun break like this before

"Stovepipe!" Hailey called out, taking the pistol from him. She ejected the mag before pulling the slider back and letting the empty bullet case fall to the ground. She slid the slider back and forth a few more times before sliding the mag back in, pulling the slider back, and handing the pistol to Felger. "There," she said before picking up her rifle and going back to the battle.

"So it works now?" Felger asked. He wasn't even paying attention to how he held the pistol as he looked at it. He was readjusting his grip when his finger brushed the trigger. He jumped in surprised as the gun went off in his hands. He looked up to see what he just shot when he noticed Hailey's angry glare back at him. He had somehow managed to shoot her directly in the chest. Chen had stopped shooting when he realized what was going on, knowing the restart would kick in any moment.

"Well," he said to Felger who could only gawk in embarrassment. "Good luck explaining this one to her."

-.-

For the next round, Felger's pistol was replaced with a trazer. At least he wouldn't be killing anyone by accident though the consequences of being shot by one might as well be the same. The pistol-style trazer fired a pellet of alien chemicals that would react when mixed releasing a massive amount of electricity that would overload the brain. If he accidentally stunned someone then they would be vulnerable to the jaffa.

Felger was a little disappointed but at least the alien stun gun still looked badass.

-.-

During the next round, they had gotten lost in the different pyramid structure. They were lucky enough to find a random computer console that they had Felger use to pull up a map.

"Here, it's this way," he said, trying to keep an image of the map in his head.

"You sure about that?" Jennifer asked, her rifle ready. "I think we should've found the main computer by now." What made this simulation even more frustrating was that she knew if it was just her and Chen then they could've easily done it and left. But no; they needed to have Felger be able to learn how to do things.

"I'm positive," Jay said optimistically.

"Felger, you should let us lead," Chen hissed from the back, not liking how Felger was in front of the group.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's right around this corner." He turned the corner and froze in his tracks. "NOT THIS CORNER! NOT THIS CORNER!" he screamed as he ran the opposite direction, jaffa hot on his heels.

-.-

During the next round, the trio was trying to sneak into the pyramid once again. This time Hailey and Chen made sure they were in front with Felger in the back. They could see the structure in the distance but it was still a matter of getting through the forest.

"Watch out," Hailey hissed, shoving Felger to the ground as she and Chen crouched down. She watched as a small patrol of jaffa marched by. They stayed low, relying on the camo of their uniforms and the underbrush to keep themselves hidden as the metal-clad warriors marched past.

"Looks like we're clear," Hailey said, looking around. "You two see anyone?"

"Negative," Chen barked, scanning the forest. Felger was not as fast to respond. When Hailey had shoved him down he ended up falling on his back and she had crouched down right above him.

"Yeah, got nothing," he stuttered awkwardly as her ass hovered over his face.

-.-

Outside the VR, everyone in the room had burst out laughing again. Even more people had shown up, curious what the excitement was and were now enjoying the show. Hailey may not have been able to see what Felger was seeing but everyone else could on his monitor.

"I think Major Hailey's going to personally kill Doctor Felger if she finds out," Umar chuckled to Nova.

-.-

During the next round, they had managed to sneak inside the pyramid but there was a small platoon of jaffa right in front of the door they needed to go through. Felger knew that Hailey and Chen would devise a plan. But he could still earn their respect if he came up with a good one first. Jennifer was about to give Felger commands but he immediately began gesturing, pointing at them, walked his fingers through the air, pointed at the jaffa, fist bumped the air, and waved his hand around, before ending it with a loud clap. He looked at the two, eagerly waiting for their approval. But all they did was stare back at him.

"At what point did you think we knew what that meant?" Chen hissed. Those words had just left his mouth when the jaffa came around the corner, staff weapons at the ready. The sound of Felger clapping his hands together has echoed down the hall. "Aw, crap."

-.-

That was enough. He had enough. Before the game could restart Chen concentrated a bit and the VR chairs ejected him from the simulation. It ejected all of them from the sim. Everyone else in the room may have been laughing but he was not. His patience had run out.

"Umm...Doctor Chen," Felger whimpered as Chen walked out of the room. He had enough.

-.-

Felger remembered how he felt Millennium was a good place to restart his reputation. He had hoped to be hailed as a hero, a brilliant scientist. Now it seemed like he was doomed to forever be the fool. Back on Earth, he would go to an old wood bridge if he ever needed space. Here, he went to the river walkway. The water that flowed through Millennium's sewage system came from an artificial river that flowed all around the city. The city would take in water from this river for use and purify the used water before returning it to the river. It wasn't a perfect system, the sludge taken from it needed to be disposed of, and scientists said that the river would need refilling eventually, but it did its job. The river water wasn't for drinking but it was still sparkling clear. The city had walkways that would let the river flow underneath it, letting residents stand and watch the crystal clear water. He couldn't help but wonder if there used to be alien fish in those waters. Didn't matter now. Now he just stood at the edge of the walkway, looking over the fence into the water. The city's day cycle was coming to an end and the glowing lights at the bottom of the river could be seen.

He gave a sigh, replaying the day's events in his head. He tried so hard to prove himself but failed each and every time.

He looked up to take a good look at the city. Light beamed through the windows of every building and he could even see through the second-floor windows of the nearest building. It was just then he noticed Chen in one of the windows. It looked like he had stepped out of someone's quarters and was staring out the window outside the door. It was then Doctor Kara Osborn stepped through those doors. Felger could see her and Chen talking about something before embracing each other. They gave each other one final look before walking away.

Curiosity soon took hold. Felger knew that Chen and Osborn were close but he didn't know why. And this was a good opportunity to find a way to get on Steven Chen's good side. It wasn't that he didn't want to change who he was, it's just that he didn't know how. He needed to know how he could get better and he needed to know what it would take to have Chen help him…

-.-

Kara Osborn had just sat back down at her desk when she heard the door chime. She stood back up and straightened her purple tunic before walking over and opening it.

"Hey," Felger said nonchalantly with a melancholy hand wave.

"Doctor Felger, come in," Osborn said, walking back to her desk. She may have been on a first-name basis with Steven and a few other members and a last name basis with Wolf Pack and the other exploration teams but she still referred to everyone else by their full title.

Felger had never been in Osborn's room before and he could not help but stare at the walls. Kara Osborn had fully moved in, decorating the place like it was her bedroom. He could see her dresser and mirror near the back. Her bookcase by the door was filled with not only medical books but English classics. Littered on each shelf were her pictures, taken from her vacations around the globe with her standing in front of or on some famous monument.

"Long day?" she asked humorously, tearing Felger out of his snooping. She figured that he would still be thinking about the massive botch up of a training session earlier. Felger just shrugged.

"Well, at least everyone enjoyed watching me screw up…again," he said. "I'm pretty sure Chen hates me more than ever. Then again, I'm pretty sure he hates everyone."

"Believe me, he doesn't," she said as she took her seat. "He wasn't always like this. He always had an attitude but he used to be a lot happier."

"You're joking, right?" Felger remarked. "Chen, happy?"

"You need to understand. Steven's been through a lot but if I had to fault him on something is that he cares too much. And if the Steven Chen I know is still in there, then he truly wants to help you but doesn't know how."

"How did you guys get to be like this?" Felger asked, sitting down in the chair in front of her desk. "Like, how long have you known each other?"

"College," she said casually. Felger couldn't see it but she pulled up an old picture saved on her computer, a picture of a younger her and Steven sitting on a bench, her head on his shoulder, a wide grin on her face. Chen's smile was much smaller but it obvious that it was genuine. "I went to Harvard in America for my study abroad program. Chen was studying at MIT but we ended up living in the same apartment building. Our first run-ins were all arguments; if you gave him attitude he wasn't afraid to return it. I guess that's how we became best friends and not long after we became an item."

"Why him though?" Felger asked. "Like, couldn't you find someone back in England?"

"Oh, I dated plenty of guys back home and I guess I wanted to try something new. And I did truly care about him. Besides, once you date one English boy you've dated them all."

Felger gave an awkward chuckle. He wanted to know about Chen's past but he didn't expect details from his love life. Still, there was on more question that needed answering. "So what happened then?" Felger asked. Kara's face sagged at the thought. There was no dancing around this subject.

"Steven always had a rough relation with his family. He lived under the shadow of his seemingly perfect sister and his parents were always on top of him to be like her. I don't doubt they loved him and wanted the best for him but they didn't give him a chance to live his life. Worst of all, his house was located in the heart of gang territory." Osborn gave a sigh. There was no dancing around this topic. "They were murdered right in front of him when he went to visit them. He survived but it…changed him. He was a lot darker…colder…angrier… We began fighting a lot more often, and it wasn't our usual stupid fights. Our relation was crumbling and I could see it happening. But, I still cared for him. So I ended it so we could always think back on the good times. I know Steven can be cold and abrasive but it's only because he cares and wants to help as many people as possible and he doesn't like taking any risks while doing so. Just give him a chance…"

-.-

Chen chose to spend the evening filing paperwork. He had enough action for one day. He had retired himself to his room, shuffling through some old documents. Along with all the new projects the engineers and scientists are working on, the Expedition had to keep track of all the projects they used to work on even back at the SGC or Atlantis. Some of these projects worked. The X699 had come a long way from the hideous and clunky thing that it started out as. Naquadah generators had smaller variations like the naquadah cell for smaller pieces of equipment. Then there were the less than successful projects. Looking over some of the concepts he could not help but wonder how these people even got the positions they had.

As he neared the back he paused on a particular document.

"Plasma weapon," Chen read. When he looked at the other failed projects he saw nothing but stupidity. But this one was different. He put the other papers down but kept the project report in his hand. He quickly turned his computer on and fed the report into the scanner. Almost instantly a blue crystal monitor near the wall turned on and displayed what was written on the document. The crystal monitor was a touch screen so Chen just used his finger like a pen and began scribbling on the digital document. There was a lot to cross out. He found a dozen mathematical mess ups, engineering choices that didn't make sense, and a severe lack of fail-safes. But, the thing that got him most was that this report and its accompanying blueprint didn't seem that bad. It seemed like that whoever made this design simply needed someone to proofread his idea and all these mistakes could have easily been fixed.

Now curious why this paper was in the 'failed' stack, Chen scrolled to the top of the page to find out who had written it. His eyes widened in shock when he saw 'Jay Felger' written as the researcher and 'Chloe Angstrom' as the assistant.

"Son of a bitch," Chen muttered in disbelief. He would have never thought that Felger could be responsible for this. And it now made sense why this paper was just scrapped rather than handed to another scientist to try again. Felger was associated with failure and the mere sight of his name probably caused the person who organized these papers to scrap his idea. But it was a good idea. He could see the mistakes right in front of him, mistakes that could easily be corrected, but what was there was a good idea. Steven gave an annoyed sigh, acknowledging what he had to do next.

-.-

It was now the middle of the night cycle and Felger had decided to just linger around the now empty mat room. It was the room that people used to train in their martial arts and other forms of hand to hand fighting. Due to the need of the extra room, hanging punching bags and extra pads it was given its own room. The entire floor was covered in a soft mat so no one would get hurt falling over. The back of the room had heavy punching bags hanging from the ceiling. Smaller punching bags and rubber dummies sat on stands near the sides.

Felger walked up to one of the bags, imagining himself wailing on it while others looked on in admiration. Jay smiled at the thought as he took up his best fighting stance in front of one of the hanging bags, thinking about all the martial arts movies he watched.

"Oh, so you wanna go?" he muttered, giving the bag in front of him a shove like it was a person. "You wanna go? You are going against the best. I've worked with SG-1, I've worked with the best. You got nothin on me!" Felger pulled his fist back and swung at the bag as hard as he could. He couldn't even react as his fist bounced off the bag and nailed him in the nose. He gave a yell in surprise and pain, clinging to his face. "Ok, let's try that again," he muttered. He looked up to try again but his eyes widened in horror. His punch may not have been very good but it still had enough force to move the hanging bag, which swung back at him. He gave another yell as the bag hit him like a pendulum, sending him flying to the ground.

Felger gave a tired wheeze. He didn't even feel like getting up. But, it didn't look like he would have to. As he stared up at the ceiling he realized that Steven Chen was standing above him staring back down.

"Chen!" Felger yelped, bolting to his feet. "I was…uh…was practicing!"

"Practicing," Chen said flatly.

"Yeah, I was just…I used to do this…back in middle school…"

Chen knew that this was nonsense but he actually found this lie somewhat amusing.

"Really? And what form did you do?"

"Uh…just, you know, some stuff: Praying Tiger, Crouching Mantis…"

"Then may I offer you some advice?" Chen asked "Don't wear shoes on the mats!" Felger looked down, realizing he hadn't bothered taking his shoes off. Even Chen had taken his shoes off before stepping on the mats just to talk to him.

"Right, I'll remember that."

"NOW, Felger!"

Felger immediately skipped off the mat while Chen took his time walking off.

"Look…uh…Chen," Felger said slowly. "I'm sorry about earlier…you know…the training."

"Save it," Steven interrupted. "I just want to know one thing: how would you feel about going on a mission?"

Felger's face lit up. A mission? He couldn't believe his ears. The biggest thing he ever did off world was study an old ring platform on an already-explored planet and that only happened.

"A mission?" he stuttered, still processing what he heard.

"Look," Chen sighed. "I decided to go through some of your past work. And you know what I found?"

"A screwup?" Felger mumbled. Chen raised an eyebrow, surprised that even Felger could acknowledge his failures.

"Yes, but not for the reasons you think. I didn't just go through your project history; I went through family history as well." Felger looked up, paling at the thought of someone going through his personal history. The SGC did have to keep every detail of the people they hire and Chen was in a position to access certain information. "Even as a child, you wanted to prove yourself to your friends and family, both of whom looked down on you, especially your father. Then when you got your first job you were desperate to prove yourself to your boss and co-workers. Teaching was just about the only thing you could do to show what you knew since anytime you tried anything else, you just failed. In the SGC, you were desperate to impress Carter and SG-1. You're always so damn desperate to prove yourself that you make shoddy decisions based on sketchy evidence, your calculations littered with math mistakes and I have to question your engineering choices. Just about every mistake you make could've been avoided had you just asked for help. If you had just asked your assistant, Chloe Angstrom, to go over your work you might've been able to prevent your screw ups. In fact, what happened to Angstrom anyways?"

"Chloe? She…uh…she said she got tired of waiting for me to pay attention to her so she left me for Coombs."

Chen's face stiffened at this statement. "Ok, that's harsh."

"I just…I just wanted to show people I'm not a screw up," Felger sighed.

"Are you trying to show us? Or yourself?" Chen barked. Felger didn't say anything. He just looked at the ground. Chen gave a sigh. It would've been so much easier if Felger was just another idiot who could be dismissed as one. But Chen now knew the truth and he couldn't turn his back now. "Did you know I used to be the worst in my sanshou gym?" Felger looked up, confused by this seemingly random statement.

"What?"

"Sanshou," Chen repeated. "It's a form of kung fu, sometimes called Chinese kickboxing. It was my first martial art. I was once the worst trainee there." Felger scoffed skeptically. It sounded like Chen was just saying something to make him feel better. Carter did the same thing once, tell him about how she nearly destroyed a planet by mistake. As far as Felger was concerned, this was just people exaggerating their mistakes to make himself feel better.

"Yeah, right."

"I was known as the guy who got kicked so hard he went flying out the front window and into the street. For the longest time I was an embarrassment to the art. But I didn't stay there; I worked my way up. I swallowed my pride, learned from my betters, and climbed the ladder. Most importantly: I didn't take any shortcuts. Carter, Hailey: they didn't start on top. They started on the bottom just like everyone else and climbed to the top. No one starts out on top and it should be obvious that your attempts to take shortcuts to the top is just exploding in your face. So yeah, you didn't just hit rock bottom; you've drilled into the Earth's core. Think about the training session. Every time you got us killed it was because you tried to do something to impress us without taking a moment to think about whether or not it made sense. If you want even a chance of getting to the top, you're gonna have to stop taking shortcuts and climb the old fashioned way."

"So what're we gonna do?" Felger asked.

"Well, for one, I'm gonna get you out of that lab. Everyone has a Felger-escape-plan for when your next endeavor fails so we should get you away from them. Next, do you know about the Fierri?"

"What about them?"

"You, me, and Hailey are gonna do a joint mission with them. They just established a research lab on a planet. We're gonna take a nice little vacation there where you will work under their strict supervision."

Felger cringed at the idea of having to work for somebody. He wanted to prove he can do it and but couldn't prove anything like that. But, he knew in the back of his mind that if he continued doing what he has always done then he will always fail.

"When do we start?" he asked. Chen didn't even smile. He knew that this was going to be painful. But, he wanted to give Felger a chance.

"I just came back from speaking with General Mercer. We can start in three hours if you like."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hey everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I know this is a Felger episode and while there'll be some stuff with his antics I wanted to try to turn him into an actual character and not just the laughing stock. So Felger's story continues. I'd always like to thank billboard018 for helping me on this chapter. Anyways, please tell me what you think and enjoy._

-.-

Chen remembered the first encounter with the fierri. The country they had arrived in just so happened to be the only country left. Their forefathers had committed mass genocide, using technology they found through the stargate to eliminate the 'inferior' races. The Genesis War lasted decades with the rest of the world doing everything they can to fight back. Nukes, bio-weapons, chemical weapons, sterility bombs, nothing worked. The country always managed to stop any attack. Nukes were shot out of the sky, bio and sterility bombs were effective but conspicuous, able to be quarantined and dealt with. The rest of the world lost the war but as a last act they created a virus that would alter fierri biology. Everyone exposed had their biology altered to reject the second X chromosome, the presence of the second chromosome becoming fatal. Unlike the sterility bomb, this virus was a lot more subtle. Birth rates remained the same and by the time people realized what was happening it was too late. The biology of nearly every fierri in the country had been altered. Much like the Asgard, they had resorted to cloning and conscious transfer in a desperate attempt to survive but their technology paled in comparison. Deterioration was nearly ten times faster. The race had ben resigned to a slow but inevitable death.

It was almost strange to see the fierri again. Unlike the Milky Way or Pegasus, most of the civilizations in Caldwell 70 were pretty advanced. It was just a matter if they actually want to make friends. Though some people in the expedition weren't comfortable with working with a race whose forefathers committed mass genocide, the fierri were the only friends the Millennium Expedition had.

Felger was almost giddy with excitement as he stepped out of the stargate. He was on another planet once again. And the planets in this galaxy were even more alien than the ones back in the Milky Way. The further you go from home the more alien things get and they were further out than they had ever been before except for maybe the Destiny Expedition.

"This is so cool," he jittered. "It's almost like the time me and Samantha Carter had to face death while trying to fix the virus infecting the stargate network! Have I ever told you about that?"

"Even more often than Hailey telling us about her first trip through the gate," Chen grumbled.

"Hey!" Jennifer immediately protested. "I've cut down."

"Fine, I'll give you that. You tell us nine times a week instead of ten."

Chen gave another quick mutter in mandarin before refocusing on the planet they had just arrived on.

The most obvious thing upon stepping onto the planet was the yellow sky. It didn't look sick or poisonous but it still looked like the atmosphere was made of evaporated lemonade. Ahead of them was a luscious jungle, the silver stargate located just outside the dense mass of trees and vines.

"That's just wrong," Chen commented as he eyed what looked like a massive flying spider buzzing through the leaves and landing on the DHD. It looked like a regular earth spider, slightly smaller than a person's palm because of its long legs but it had very clear wings folded on its back. After taking a quick rest, the wings unfolded and the spider-thing buzzed off, Chen taking a step back as if he was expecting it to lunge at him. Hailey and Felger didn't have Chen's arachnophobia but they still didn't like the concept of flying spiders.

"Well, hopefully that's the only scary thing around here," Jennifer remarked, nestling her X699 plasma rifle. Almost in immediate response, a low guttural growl echoed from the forest. Felger dove behind Chen and Hailey, who readied their weapons.

"You just had to jinx it," Chen growled in agitation. They watched as the branches began to part, the leaves pulling away like a curtain. Inch by inch, a snout protruded from the underbrush, a massive cougar-like creature stepping out into the open, the hairs on its body replaced with a mat of scales, massive tusks protruding from its top jaw. The hairs that made the bushy mane that ran down the spine of the creature's neck stood on end.

Chen and Hailey stood their ground, getting ready to do whatever was necessary, but then the creature seemed to relax and casually stepped out of the brush.

"Doctor Chen! It's good to see you again," the beast's rider called out. Chen let his gun fall from his hand in disbelief.

"Crux?!" he called out in shock, stunned to see the fierri riding the beast. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Chen demanded to know, referring to how the creature crawled out of the brush like a predator ready to attack them.

"Perhaps," Crux laughed with a shrug. He gestured at the group with his hand as two more beasts came trotting out of the forest with fierri riding them. "The forest was too thick to traverse with airships or vehicles so we tamed the local wildlife instead," Crux explained.

"Oh yeah, this is Major Jennifer Hailey and Doctor Jay Felger," Chen introduced. He was actually surprised he didn't feel the urge to puke after referring to Felger's title.

"The outpost is not too far into the jungle," Crux explained. "Hop on the back of the korugas and we'll take you there." Chen gave a nod and got on the back of the creature Crux was riding. Hailey went over to one of the soldiers and got on his koruga.

When she thought about riding the creatures she initially compared it to riding a horse, something she actually did as a girl. But the koruga was much shorter and getting on it felt more like getting on a motorcycle. In fact, with the way she tucked her legs up against the side of the animal's body and leaned forward, she might as well have been preparing to ride a racing motorcycle.

"What're you waiting for, Doctor?" Crux asked when he noticed Felger hesitating to get on. The man was still scared of the ferocious beast.

"Just…uh…give me a moment," he whimpered. He kept preparing to get on but immediately stopped, expecting the beast to turn around and maul him to death. He reached out to touch it but immediately retracted his hand, thinking about it biting his arm off.

"You have five seconds or you're walking!" Chen snapped. Felger took a breath, closed his eyes, and got onto the beast. He stood frozen for a moment but opened his eyes when nothing happened. He had never ridden an animal before and it felt weird sitting on something so naturally warm and soft. The rider was turned around, looking at him. Felger couldn't see the man's expression because of the full-body sleek metallic suit of armor and helmet but the rider chuckled and faced forward again.

"You might want to hold on to me," he suggested with a laugh. Felger leaned forward and put his hand on the rider's shoulders, starting to ease up about riding the beast. The rider gave another chuckle. This pointy-chin alien had no idea what was in store.

"Let's ride!" Crux called out. He reared his koruga up onto its hind legs and the beast gave a loud roar before taking off into the jungle, its two comrades taking off behind him.

Felger let out a loud girlish scream, startled by the sudden speed, and wrapped his arm's around the rider's waist in a tight embrace to stay on.

-.-

The wind was whistling past Hailey's ear. There was very little buck in the beast's stride. She could feel its ribcage expand and contract with every breath between her thighs but aside from that it really did feel like off-road dirt bike riding as the koruga leapt over fallen logs and weaved between the trees. It wasn't proper military behavior but she reached back with her right hand and took off hair band, letting her long blonde hair fly free behind her. Jennifer noticed Chen looking at her with a crooked expression as if to ask 'what the hell are you doing?' She didn't answer, too busy enjoying herself.

Hailey's and Chen's rides may have been smooth but Felger's was far from it. The korugas didn't have saddles so the riders directed their beasts with nudges on its long neck or tugs on its mane. The rider of the koruga Felger was on was directing his beast to buck with every stride. Its hips would launch the man so hard he could feel his rear fly up into the air and fall back down merely to be met with another buck that would hit his tailbone with enough force to repeat the cycle again.

"Hang on!" Crux announced. Chen had to lean to the side to figure out what was about to happen.

"Uh, what?!" he cried out in shock. They were headed for a cliff face. The cliff was only slightly taller than a single story building but that still meant they were headed for a wall. It seemed like they were just about to collide with it when the koruga suddenly sprung off its hind legs at the rock wall, the claws of its front paws digging into the uneven stone and latching, its hind legs doing the same. It pushed off its back legs again, the force large enough to launch it to the top, the front paws reaching up and latching onto the edge of the cliff and pulling itself up.

The koruga Hailey was riding did the same, scaling the rock wall and reaching the top. Felger came in third, screaming all the way up.

It was certainly a hell of a ride, for at least two of them, but all good things come to an end. They leapt over a fallen log and right into the camp, the beast digging its claws into the ground, skidding to a stop.

Chen got off the koruga and looked around, getting his bearings. It was somewhat inconvenient to have the gate be that far from the outpost but he couldn't really complain about having to ride the koruga back.

Hailey's hair was a mess and a big smile was plastered across her face. But, the fun was over. She cleared her throat and quickly recomposed herself, pulling her hair back into her ponytail.

Felger got off his beast hunched over and knees tight together. It felt like his tailbone had been ground to dust.

"You alright there, pinky?" Felger's rider asked with a laugh, patting the man on the back. "You had a bumpy ride."

"I'll be fine," Felger wheezed.

"Iado," Crux barked. "Lay it off."

"Sorry, sir," Iado said, immediately regaining composure, his back straight and eyes forward. He marched to his commanding officer's side without question.

"This is our outpost," Crux explained to Hailey and Chen. "Both research facility and dig site." Chen looked around, taking a moment to take in what he saw. The fierri had managed to clear a section of jungle and built a huge science building. It wasn't as large as it could be since they still had to contend with the rest of the jungle, the structure being the size of a large three-story house, metallic gray walls staring out into the forest, the windows tinted so it was next to impossible to see inside. Surrounding the main building were dozens of smaller ones, tents of sheet metal, a decent sized tool shed, a large camo-canvas tent, and even some stables for the korugas they kept. Fierri soldiers marched on patrol, not only carrying their shrieker rifles but large metal shields in their left hands.

"If you don't mind me asking," Hailey said. "Why'd you pick this planet?" Crux simply gestured for the team to follow him. Not even bothering to dismount, the three fierri rode their korugas through the camp, Hailey and Chen walking behind, and Felger painfully waddling behind them. They didn't need to go far.

"What…is that?" Hailey breathed in shock. Chen felt his jaw drop in awe. Felger's eyes bulged in excitement. In the distance, past the mass of trees beyond the base, was a huge structure, a massive bronze-colored pyramid. The thing was an hour walk away at the very least and it was already sticking high above the trees taller than a skyscraper.

"That is why we're here," Crux explained. "And that…" He gestured to the top of the main research building. Chen couldn't believe he didn't see it on his way in, a massive cannon-looking machine resting atop the structure. It looked like someone had ripped off the turret of a tank, doubled its size, and slapped it onto the building, its barrel looking like a giant tube of reflective diamond mirrors. "That thermal drill is how we're getting in."

-.-

The other rider left to perform his other duties, leaving Crux and Iado to show the humans the lab. It was actually pretty warm outside so the air conditioned halls of the main lab were nice. It wasn't a fancy lab but it was still well built with its shiny gray halls and tiled floor. It was a pretty simple layout too. The first two floors held the research labs, a single main hallway running through the building with the laboratories on either side of it, stairwells to the upper floors at either end of the hallway. The third floor was one massive control room that managed the thermal drill. Crux intended to show them the controls to the thermal drill since that is where Felger would be helping.

"You've been quiet for a while there," Chen remarked as Crux led the group down the hall. "According to the guys up top, we had just begun negotiations when it seemed like you guys just fell off the galaxy map. Couldn't dial you and you didn't dial us until last week out of the blue."

"Apologies for that," Crux stated. "Ever since we restarted our stargate program, we've already had several bad alien encounters. You should know something about that."

Hailey and Chen exchanged glances, thinking about all the alien encounters the SGC had that left them unable to contact their alien allies.

"We'll probably need to reestablish negotiations as soon as possible," Hailey added. "Some stuff has happened and we may be in need of supplies."

"What she means to say is we got attacked," Chen clarified bluntly. "We managed to contact our planet and get some fresh supplies but, in the end, we simply delayed the inevitable. Our supplies will eventually run dry."

"Your General has already resumed negotiations with Prime Minister Pavell," Iado said as they passed by the biology lab, the sound of various alien animals coming from inside. "Though, it might be a while before you get supplies."

"The political climate on our planet has been chaotic ever since you guys left," Crux added. "Since everyone else on the planet is now dead, we do have an entire planet's worth of resources that we would be willing to share but we would essentially be mining out of mass graves. Project Rising Dawn was started to find any survivors of the Genesis War. We're trying to find the survivors of the genocide our forefathers and their supremacist ideologies committed. We've already found their discarded weapons of slaughter: DNA plagues designed to infect and kill fierri that possess a certain genetic code, crawler mines in ruins of the cities, even hunter-seeker drones that'll take out any fierri that doesn't possess a certain physical description. Some feel we should keep these things as a reminder of our past, others think we should destroy them to start anew. Then there's Soren…"

"He's still around?" Chen immediately asked, remembering their encounter with the man.

"He's here," Crux remarked. Chen stopped in his tracks, stunned by this new information.

"He's what?"

"He's here at this outpost," Crux said, stopping and turning around. Hailey stepped to the side so she could have in on this conversation. She wasn't part of the first contact team but she read the mission report.

"Wasn't Soren responsible for the murder of over sixty people?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, that's part of the problem," Iado chimed in. "Half the people want him dead for that, the other half say he should be kept alive since he's the only survivor of the Genesis War we can find. Whenever you get the chance, thank Corin Nevec for convincing him to turn himself in. And no offense to you ma'am, I think it's a ma'am," Iado said to Hailey, "But I had hoped to meet the original four that came here."

"Well, for the moment, you got us three," Hailey said. It was just then Chen realized something. He looked around but only counted four people in the hall: two fierri and two humans.

"Felger," he muttered. "WHERE'S FELGER!" Hailey and Chen looked around in panic but quickly spotted the man staring through one of the closed doors like a child staring through the window of an ice cream parlor. Chen growled in irritation. They were guests and the last thing they need is for Felger to mess up something on base.

"What are you looking at, man?" Chen sighed as the four of them walked over. Hailey peaked through the window first, immediately knowing what Felger was looking at.

"No, you can't keep it," Hailey said with a pat on Felger shoulder as he practically squealed in delight. Chen leaned past Hailey's shoulder and spotted a cage holding a pair of vormians inside the biology lab.

"They're so cute!" Felger gasped. Chen stared on in annoyance. He, along with most members of the Millennium Expedition, did agree that vormians were pretty cute. The brown pudgy creatures were like beakless Furbies. Holding one in your hand felt like holding a puppy or a bunny. But Chen and Hailey were around for the vormian infestation. The damned things had an insane reproduction rate and could eat just about everything in sight.

"Vormians are native to this planet," Crux explained. "Though, I rather not let you see it without one of our biologists standing by. The last thing we need is for someone to accidentally release it and start an infestation.

Crux and Iado walked off. Felger was about to join them when he realized Hailey and Chen were both staring at him after Crux's comment.

"Why're you guys looking at me?"

-.-

The thermal drill's control center was very spacious. Every one of the octagonal room's black walls was lined with red computer terminals and screens, the exception being the front which had a large window facing the pyramid. The center of the room was occupied by a large circular terminal with a glowing 3D hologram displayed above it. At the moment it simply showed a rather dim pair of spirals rising out of the display, almost like it was trying to display a model of DNA.

"Hey," Chen barked at Felger, who was staring keenly at some of the computers. "Don't touch anything."

Felger humorously straightened his back and gave a salute as if to say 'yes, sir!'. Chen grumbled and rejoined the others, Felger hurrying behind them.

"Show him what we have so far," Crux ordered to one of the scientists. Unlike the military personnel, who wore sleek but intricate suits of interwoven metallic plates, the scientists wore dull gray suits composed of a few larger and more flexible plates held together by strong cloth, the plates the perfect shape and size that the scientist could do their daily operation without any trouble.

One of the scientists walked up to the center console and quickly put a command in. The random hologram vanished and was replaced with a bright golden hologram of the drill.

"The design was based off a orbit-to-surface satellite cannon," the scientist explained. "The satellites' success rate was incredibly varied, some of them exploding when they fired. So, we are refining the original model before we fire."

"Chen and I can definitely help with that," Hailey said. "But, we recommend putting Felger in a…assistant position." The scientist looked at Crux and Iado for permission.

"We're in no rush," Crux said.

"What about the pyramid?" Hailey asked. The scientist immediately replaced the hologram with an image of the pyramid.

"I can tell you that it's old…really old. According to the archaeologists, all four races in the Alliance knew the race that built the pyramid. They were sometimes referred to as the Phonoi or Hysminai but most of the galaxy knew them as the Makhai. In the past, our teams have found artifacts relating to an alliance of four of the most advanced races in the universe. At first, we thought this was built by them but the Makhai are not one of the four races and the structure is suffering much more decay than other artifacts built by the Alliance; it was definitely built around the same time but the quality of the material is not as good. Still, its front door is way more durable than expected. That's why we're using a thermal drill. We intend to melt the door down."

Suddenly, Felger's hand shot into the air.

"Um…could I?" he asked shyly as all eyes fell on him. Hailey and Chen were both nervous since they knew his reputation for failure and the fierri were nervous since this was their project and they didn't know him at all. "The door, it seems to be made of rock of some sort." He looked at the pyramid door, noting that it didn't possess the metallic appearance of other alien tech.

"It's still tougher than any natural 'rock' we've encountered before and the door is still pretty thick."

"Just a crazy idea," Felger muttered. "To be able to stand after all this time, it has to be a completely solid material: nonporous. Instead of melting through the door, what if we use the thermal drill to increase its temperature, then cool it into a solid while it's still shrinking.

"The thermal coefficient of the material can't be that large," the fierri scientist pointed out.

"Even if it isn't, the outside layer will have an extremely high compressive stress and the inside will have high tensile stress. Then all that's needed is to put in a crack to create a failure front and shatter part of the door down."

Crux looked at the scientist. The method would still be time-consuming but would take less energy. The scientist looked back, giving a nod of approval for the concept.

"Alright then," Crux said. "Felger is it? You will be working under Takar here." Felger gave a quiet squeal of excitement and delight. It was incredible; having scientists who listened to him and not just laughed and dismissed.

"Under," Chen repeated to Felger, making sure the man did not overstep his bounds. Steven didn't want to seem like he was putting Felger down, but he knew Jay's problems came from the man always trying to do more than he can handle.

"We can help work out the kinks in the thermal drill," Hailey offered.

"Excellent," Crux replied, looking around. "Let's get to work." Crux and the scientist went off, leaving Hailey, Chen, and Felger at the center console.

"What're you smiling about?" Chen asked in an unamused tone when he saw Felger.

"This is just so exciting!" he jittered with glee. "You heard him! Let's get to work!"

-.-

As night began to fall, at least the dark sky was its proper color. It was an entire day's work but it was all they could do. Chen was on his way to the hardened shelter they were assigned. On his way there he walked past the koruga pens, the giant beasts locked up for the night. That's when Chen noticed who it was putting the creatures away.

"Soren!" Chen called. The yellow-skin fierri looked at the man calling his name. It was obvious much had changed since they last saw each other. With their bulbous round and hairless heads, Soren used to look like all the other fierri with the exception of his yellowish skin. Now, while the others remained completely hairless short of maybe a goatee, Soren had grown a massive beard that hung down in front of his chest.

Soren looked up from the koruga and at Chen. He recognized the pink skinned human. He never got his name but he recognized him.

"Long time no see," Chen remarked as he approached the man. Soren took a moment to figure out what the metaphor meant before responding.

"Indeed."

Soren turned back and petted the koruga on the head, the giant beast purring before turning back into its pen to sleep.

"Your name," Soren said, his voice as deep and scratchy as Chen remembered. "I don't believe you told me when we first met."

"Steven Chen. I guess it's good to see you under better conditions."

"Yes," Soren said blankly, almost as if he was talking to himself rather than Chen. "Last we met, you held a gun to my face."

"You killed sixty people with nothing but a knife and was trying to blow up the only country left on your planet. I tend to be cautious."

Soren gave a gentle growl as he went back to his work. The man didn't seem like one for conversation when they first met and he didn't seem like one now.

"What are you doing here?" Chen asked, deciding to get straight to the point. "Last I saw you, you were arrested and imprisoned."

"Prime Minister Pavell has granted me…probation. I am here to train the korugas for this mission. It's a temporary arrangement; I will return to prison once the mission on this planet is finished."

Chen raised a surprised eyebrow at this comment. So it was Soren who helped train the korugas.

"How do you know how to train them?" Chen asked curiously. Soren crouched down and picked up the now empty water bucket. He was silent for a bit as he headed for the shed with Chen right behind him. Chen was about to leave, figuring that the man didn't want to talk, when Soren finally spoke up.

"I don't know how things are in your galaxy but in our galaxy some animals can be found on nearly every planet: vormians, tyrants, korugas… Maybe you've encountered some."

"We've had problems with vormians in the past and have run into an ice tyrant once," Chen said. The vormian infestation did do a number on Millennium and the ice tyrant they ran into actually saved them.

"Korugas were not native to their country but they were native to mine," Soren explained as he opened the door and put the bucket in. "I was forced to live off the land for most of my life. Korugas were tamed by our forefathers and the surviving members of my family also learned how."

"Are they really that easy to tame?" Chen asked, somewhat shocked by this statement.

"Korugas have strong family structures. Befriend one and you befriend the rest of his pack."

Soren closed the closet, prepped for the night.

"I'm surprised you agreed to help them," Steven remarked as Soren headed for his hardened shelter. "Last time we met you were hellbent on killing them. Why are helping them?"

Soren stopped right in front of his door, contemplating the question, thinking about Corin Nevec's words. Chen expected the fierri to answer but he didn't. Without another word or glance, he opened the door, walked in, and closed it just as promptly. Chen stared at the door for a few more moments, confused by Soren's suddenly silence.

"I'd leave it go if I were you," a voice suggested. Chen turned around and noticed Iado leaning against the wall of the shed behind him. Iado seemed so laid back before but, saying this, he sounded ominous now. "Once the murderer's finished helping us, he's going back to his cell." Chen raised a curious eyebrow at this reaction.

"You seem to be harboring a lot of animosity," Chen remarked.

"The man is a murderer and the only reason he hasn't been executed for his crimes is because of his origins," Iado said darkly. "We normally don't pardon mass murderers simply because they apologize." Chen watched Iado stroll away, thinking about his words. He hated Earth politics and didn't even want to touch fierri politics. He could only imagine the turmoil the last remaining country was going through.

-.-

Hailey was already in the shelter they were assigned, her equipment stored under the stacked bunk and her coat hung on the rack near the door, and her boots under the desk, leaving her in her black T-shirt and barefoot in the top bunk. She had already finished setting up the laptop on the desk which was hooked up to the MALP. With everything finished, Hailey was taking a moment to herself. Chen probably would've made it there first if he hadn't gotten distracted by Soren.

"Where've you been?" Hailey asked from the top bunk, setting aside her book. The shelter was pretty simplistic. After setting up the sheet metal tent the fierri had furnished it with a table and chair, a cot, and two bunks stacked on top of each other at the other wall. Hailey had immediately claimed the top bunk, setting her equipment under the bottom bunk. Chen let his tactical vest slide off and setting it underneath his bottom bunk right beside Hailey's stuff. The flag of Crux's country hung in the background, the familiar emblem of Thor's hammer atop crossing red stripes on a black flag.

"Was talking to Soren," Chen explained as he plopped back on his given bed. He began fumbling to get his boots off, eager to take a break.

"They left some food for us, by the way," Hailey remarked, gesturing toward the two trays of still smoking hot meat on the table. Chen sat up, genuinely interested.

"What do we got?" he asked, a lot more awake than before. He walked over and looked the fried meat beside what looked like steaming seafood sitting in a round shell for a plate. It actually looked like oddly shaped fried chicken and it looked quite tasty.

"Fried vormian," Hailey remarked. Chen immediately froze, thinking about the giant furbie.

"What's it taste like?" he asked cautiously. He wasn't exactly keen on eating space rat. Jennifer shrugged, not sure how to describe it.

"I promise it's good," Jennifer added. Chen picked up one of the vormian and took a deep bite. It was good. He could still feel the hairs underneath the crust but it was pretty tasty and the meat was absurdly tender. Chen nodded happily, acknowledging how good it was.

"We gotta recommend this to the chefs," he said before taking another bite. "Hey, where's Felger? He come back yet?"

"I think he's at the mess tent with the scientists," Hailey remarked. "He's seems to be getting along with them."

"Oh yes, it's all fun and games until something blows up," Chen said bluntly as he picked up the spoon and scooped a bit of the seafood into his mouth. "Goddamn, what have we been missing in this galaxy?" he asked, stunned by how good all this food tasted. "We should probably find him before he breaks something."

"General Mercer's supposed to radio in for a check-in," Hailey reminded, pointing to the laptop.

"Alright. You stay here and I'll get Felger," Chen proposed. He used the spoon to shovel the rest of the seafood off the shell and into his mouth as he began lacing his boots. He had just finished when the door suddenly opened, Felger came walking in, massive smile on his face and bounce in his step.

"Someone's happy," Hailey remarked as Felger walked to his cot.

"Gonna be happy to say, once the other scientists left, I made some modifications to the thermal drill and now it is up and operational," he said cheerfully, plopping down playfully. Hailey and Chen immediately bolted up, alarmed by this statement. Felger was just involved in the repair of the thermal drill and was way too happy talking about it. When that happens that usually means something blows up. Felger could instantly see their alarm.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Felger," Hailey said. "But when you fix things they tend to…"

"Blow up," Chen finished.

"Steve, you brought me here so I could practice away from Millennium," Jay argued.

"I brought you here because you need other people to check your work to make sure it doesn't kill anyone," Chen immediately barked, his voice echoing through the metal shack. "Now, can you look at me dead in the eye and swear on your life that your modifications to the thermal drill are spotless?"

Felger immediately opened his mouth to argue. Of course his modifications were good. All the simulations worked exactly as they should. But as he looked back at Chen's glare, he remembered why they were here. They were here because Chen wanted to give him a chance, an honest to god chance when no one else would.

"No," Felger sighed. With his history for failure, he couldn't promise that his modifications would work spotlessly. Chen and Hailey exchanged glances, wondering how they should proceed with this information.

"Should we tell them now?" Hailey asked.

"They aren't gonna fire up the drill for a bit so we have some time," Chen said. "I think it's safe to wait until tomorrow to check his work."

Hailey could see the pain in Felger's face. He was desperate to improve and prove himself.

"Look, Felger," Hailey sighed. "I get you want to prove yourself but you have to start at the bottom for now."

"Remember what I said back on Millennium," Chen said, a lot more friendly than before. "You start at the bottom before you get to the top and you can't take shortcuts."

Felger's face sagged, remembering their conversation. He sat on his cot, admitting his defeat. He wanted to change his reputation and if this was what it took, so be it.

"Crux dropped off food," Jennifer Hailey said, gesturing toward the table. "It's pretty good."

Felger gave a tired sigh. He was hungry and he'll have some food. Guess all he could do was eat and hit the bunk.

Felger took his tray and began to dig into the meal just as the laptop began to beep.

"Right on time," Hailey muttered, jumping off the top bunk. She walked over and answered the incoming call. The monitor woke up and displayed the scene in the Millennium control room. The light beside the laptop's webcam also lit up, the camera turning on to record the scene back to the control room. Donavan rolled his wheelchair back a little so Mercer could stand in frame. Dannick was in the back, peering anxiously at the camera.

"Major Hailey," Mercer greeted. "Doctors Chen and Felger. I see you have all settled in."

"Yes, sir," Hailey responded with a nod.

"At ease, Major," Mercer said in a friendly tone. "What do you two have to report?" Felger scurried up behind them, peering over Hailey and Chen. It wasn't that hard considering how short the two of them were.

"The fierri here have discovered a pyramid in the jungle," Chen explained. "They say that the place dates back to the time of the Alliance." They could see Dannick lean in in interest when he heard this.

"The fierri plan to take down the door with a thermal drill," Hailey added. "With a few modifications from Felger." It hit her she might've said that last part a bit too loudly as almost everyone in the control room gave the camera a bewildered look.

"Do you what must," Mercer said with a stern face. It didn't even look like he cared who did what as long as they produced results. "What of the pyramid? What do you expect to find in there?"

"Haven't the foggiest," Chen remarked.

"It doesn't appear to be built by a technologically advanced society, though," Hailey added. "There's no traces of advanced civilization anywhere."

"Doctor Felger," Mercer called out. Jay immediately stood at attention.

"Right here, sir!" he said as cool as possible, nearly knocking over Hailey and Chen as he eagerly pushed his way to the front.

"What is your assessment?" the General asked calmly. Even with Chen and Hailey's annoyed glares after nearly getting barreled over, Felger still glowed with pride and excitement that the General actually wanted his opinion.

Felger cleared his throat. He had to be serious.

"Well," he said. "Even if the pyramid isn't that advanced, it has to have been built by a pretty advanced civilization. There's no way a society could've built something to last that long without advanced technology to help them."

"You sure?" Chen asked. "The pyramids in Egypt are still standing."

"We're talking about hundreds of billions of years, not just thousands," Felger reminded. "Whoever built that thing is definitely technologically advanced." Hailey paused for a moment to think about it before agreeing.

"He's right," she remarked. "That long, no normal material could've lasted without decaying. Either they built it or someone built it for them."

"In either case, there is much this expedition can benefit from," Mercer concluded. "Do they have any idea who built the pyramid?"

"According to them, the race was known as the Makhai," Chen explained. The three of them watched as Dannick's jaw dropped. Mercer noticed it too.

"Doctor?" he asked curiously. "Is there something you want to say?" Dannick looked around nervously, not wanting to be in the spotlight.

"It could be just a coincidence," he said. "In Greek mythology, the Makhai were spirits of war and combat."

Chen and Hailey both felt their faces sag when they heard this, trying to process the new information.

"That's not possible," Chen finally said. Felger looked at the two of them in confusion. He didn't understand what the big deal was.

"It could be a coincidence like Dannick said," Hailey remarked.

"Wait!" Felger suddenly spoke up. "What's going on? What's so impossible?"

"The Goa'uld influenced Greek mythology," Hailey explained. "How did random aliens get mixed into something the Goa'uld shaped?"

"Not to mention," Chen added. "How would word of the Makhai have gone from this galaxy to Milky Way in the first place? What else is there on them?"

"Not much," Dannick replied. "They're children of Eris, the goddess of strife, but that's it. There's no history or anything."

Chen and Hailey exchanged increasingly scare glances.

"Dannick, have you ever heard of the Phonoi or…what was the other one?" Chen asked.

"The Hysminia," Hailey answered. "Have you ever heard of them?" Dannick may have looked confused before but now he just looked scared.

"Hysminia were another personification of fighting and battle," he explained worriedly. "Phonoi were spirits of murder. They were all children of Eris and none of them were very nice."

"Eris was a minor Goa'uld killed during the Replicator Invasion," Hailey recited. "One name might've been a coincidence, but three?"

"Better to be safe than sorry," Mercer said, pausing to think about what to do next. "Doctor Dannick, work with Corin Nevec and scan the Atlantis and Millennium databases for the Makhai. We'll check back in with you tomorrow and report our findings."

"Yes, sir," Hailey replied with a nod.

"Millennium, out," Mercer concluded before the connection was cut. Chen eagerly went back to his fried vormian, eagerly digging into the meal.

"I guess we should hit the bunk," he said between bites. Hailey undid her ponytail and laid back in her cot. Chen was busy with the food. Felger took his tray and sat in his cot. Mercer's check-in may have been a distraction but he didn't forget what they had talked about beforehand. In the morning they would tell the fierri scientists about the changes he made and modify them. He didn't care what it took. If it meant having fellow scientists double and triple check every work he did, if it meant becoming a lab assistant once more, he didn't care what it took as long as he succeeded in changing his reputation. He took a nice big bite of his vormian. Tomorrow was another day and another chance. Just they wait…

-.-

Felger had his eyes locked on the hologram of the pyramid. The fierri scientists decided to double check his modifications. Hailey stood right behind him, waiting for the results to come back.

"Relax, it can't be that bad," she said comfortingly. It was usually her mentor, Carter, comforting Felger when things went to hell and she figured she should try to do the same.

"Oh, you don't know my history then," Jay said with a nervous. "Man, I need a paper bag!"

"I am not giving you a paper bag," Hailey immediately replied flatly. She was willing to tell Felger everything was ok, but she was not going to start coddling the man. "Here," she said, spotting Chen coming up the stairs. "What's the word?"

"Well, it's a good thing we double checked the modifications," Steven remarked. "Otherwise, the drill would've overloaded, maybe even damaged irreparably." Chen fell silent to watch Felger's reaction to this. "But now that we found the problem, the scientists say that we can actually bump up the firing to today."

Felger looked at Chen in shock and he just had a crooked smile to give back.

"See what happens when you take a moment to learn rather than show off?" Chen asked, walking to the central panel. Jay gave a weak smile. It was a start.

"I heard that Mercer called in," Hailey remarked, following her friend to the hologram. "Did Dannick find something about the Makhai?"

"Apparently both the Atlantis and Millennium databases have stuff on them," Chen explained. "According to the databases, the Makhai used to be the dominant race in this galaxy. Dannick says that their entire culture revolved around war and violence. Anything involving technology or anything else was either stolen or done by slaves."

"Then the Ancients beat them!" Felger said excitedly, imagining the space battles between Ancient and Makhai forces.

"Actually," Chen corrected. "There was a big debate on whether or not they should get involved or not."

"Either way, they're gone," Hailey concluded. "Though, I still can't help but wonder how they are connected with the Goa'uld."

"And how did word of them get to Milky Way to begin with?"

"Well…maybe…copyright problems?" Felger stuttered. He watched as Hailey's and Chen's expression immediately turned to confusion and irritation. They couldn't tell if he was joking for just being stupid. "Well, isn't it possible the Goa'uld heard about them and just decided to take credit?"

Chen and Hailey exchanged glances. That actually made sense.

"Dannick did say it was speculated that stories of the wraith were what inspired vampires on earth," Hailey recited. "I guess it's possible that the other monsters and spirits in mythology were inspired by stories of animals and races the Ancients or other races in the Alliance encountered. The Goa'uld must've thought the Makhai could be used to boost their reputation."

"Except Phonoi and Hysminia are different names for the same race," Chen pointed out. "Dannick said that in mythology they were three of several of Eris' children."

"Something must've gotten lost in translation," Felger stuttered. "We are talking billions of years and billions of light years." Chen still wanted to believe that this was a coincidence or a mistake but it just seemed impossible now.

"So you're saying the Ancients run into some space monster, talk about them, and when the Goa'uld find tablets and whatever written about them, they decide to make it look like they fought the things," he mumbled, his face paling. He wasn't into mythology but he knew his fair share of monsters from it and could only pray he won't meet any of them.

"We can confirm this later," Hailey remarked. "Let's just focus on what's going on with the pyramid. You said that they finished up the preparations?"

"Yeah, in fact they should be ready to fire," Chen responded. Felger's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"When are they gonna do it?" he babbled eagerly.

"Right now, if you'd like," a voice answered. The three of them turned around and saw Iado at the stairs. "Crux sent me to get you. We could use more engineers to monitor the drill."

Felger immediately straightened his back into a salute.

"We would be-" he had begun to announce when Chen's hand lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar before yanking him backwards, shutting the man up before he could finish his statement.

"What would we be doing?" Hailey asked. She knew that they had to make sure the job was not too big for them rather than to say yes merely to take it back later.

"From what I was told, you just need to keep an eye on the gauges," Iado explained. "Just report the numbers and our engineers will do the rest."

Chen looked at Felger as if to say 'that is how you do it' before looking at Hailey.

"Don't think that should be a problem," he said with a shrug. She just gave a nod. It should be fine. They could both hear the rustling of Felger doing an excited dance behind them. They didn't want to turn around to see it happen. But they too had to admit they felt a tinge of excitement.

-.-

It was stunning how something so old could be so sturdy. The laser prepped and fired, a beam of red energy hitting the pyramid door. Chen, Hailey, and Felger were all at separate stations, except for Chen and Felger who were at the same one. They recited off the numbers, things like temperature, pressure, and coolant flow, to the engineers who made adjustments accordingly. After about five minutes the drill powered down. Even from there they could see the molten red door, the material just a few more minutes from melting. But that wasn't the plan.

"Field crew," Crux's voice said over the radio. "Soren has brought cryogenic cannons. Use them to freeze the door."

The field teams went to work. The cryo-cannons fired shells that contained a unique mix of chemicals. When the chemicals mixed, along with expanding so rapidly it caused an explosion that would spread the mixture across the area, the mixture would absorb all thermal energy around it. As the rounds pounded the door, white clouds engulfed the area. Within moments the door had cooled down again, turning back into solid stone with a layer of frost on the surface.

"Now fire a kinetic round near the edge," Crux ordered. "If this Fel-dush guy is right, this should cause a cascade effect that will break that section of the door." Everyone, even the three humans, crowded the front window. They wanted to see this happen. A loud bang echoed through the trees as the round hit the side of the door. It washed across the door like a wave, cracks that spread through the entire structure until it completely shattered like glass, an avalanche of boulders falling to the ground. The entire crowd erupted in cheers. They were going to crack this pyramid wide open. They all rushed back to their positions, ready to do it again.

Again, the process was repeated. The drill pounded the door will pure thermal energy, the rock-like material heating until it was glowing red. Cryo-cannons instantly froze the red-hot door back solid before a well fired kinetic round shattered the whole thing down. Over and over again, the pyramid was bored into until…

"Crux! Sir, the field team reports that we have breached the door!

-.-

To say Felger was giddy was an understatement. He was trembling with excitement as he went to their shelter. Even if all their uniforms look the same, when they pull longer missions at an off-world outpost they still change clothes regularly and he was going to change into a fresh uniform before joining the teams going into the pyramid. As he approached their assigned metal tent he noticed Chen standing outside the door. He still had his usual stiff expression with his arms folded across his chest.

"Chen, what're you doing here?" Felger asked, stopping in front of the man.

"I'm waiting for my turn to get changed," he said bluntly. "Crux is going to stay at the base so Iado's gonna lead the teams. The three of us are heading into the pyramid once they're all ready. You seem excited."

"We just cracked open a pyramid to a billion-year-old civilization!" he stuttered. "How are you not excited?"

"Considering who we're supposed to meet in there…" Steven said, his voice trailing off. "Yeah, I just hope the place is as dead as it seems." Felger just shrugged it off.

"You worry too much!" he said cheerfully. "You heard what the archaeologists said: this place is as old as the Alliance. No way-"

"HEY!" Chen quickly snapped. "I rather you not jinx things. The moment you say there's nothing in there, there gonna be something in there!"

"Uh…don't you think you're being a bit melodramatic?"

Felger could feel Chen's irritated expression bore a hole through his skull. Steven did not like being called melodramatic.

"Well, I'm gonna change into a new uniform," Felger said, deciding to end the conversation. "Then we can all head into the pyramid." It was only after Jay's hand grabbed the door knob that Chen remembered.

"Felger, wait!" he called out. Too late. Felger opened the door to the shelter and froze, his body turning stiff as a board, his face turning redder than a tomato. Chen had said that he was waiting for his turn to get changed, but Felger was too pumped full of adrenaline from his excitement to notice. And he had walked right in on Hailey still changing into a fresh uniform and she just so happened to be facing the door when it opened.

Tales of Chen's temper was second only to tales of Hailey's temper, something that may have been smaller than in her time in the Air Force Academy but it still carried over.

Hailey paled when she realized Felger had just walked in on her changing, clutching her black shirt to her chest. But her face soon turned red as the information set in.

"Get…out," Hailey snarled.

"I'm…I'm…I'm sorry," Felger stuttered, barely able to even form a word let alone a sentence. "I…I didn't know you were…"

"GET OUT!" she roared. He immediately slammed the door closed, his eyes as wide as Frisbees.

"Kill me," he whimpered.

"Don't worry," Chen mumbled in irritation, his face buried in his hands. "She'll be doing that soon enough." He was so hoping that Felger would stop messing up like that.

The door to the shelter opened again and Hailey came walking out in her black battle dress uniform, her tactical vest and x699 plasma rifle in her hands. Without a moment's hesitation, she walked up to Jay Felger and gave the man a sharp punch to the gut.

"Knock next time, dumbass!" she barked as she stormed off. Chen just stared at the man.

"Even when you're not screwing up, you're still screwing up," he muttered as he went into the shelter to change. Felger decided to wait for his turn.

"I'll be right with you," he groaned.

-.-

Everyone had gathered in front of the pyramid. A small camp was even established, supplies brought to the front, wooden dividers set in front of the shattered door. Even the three humans had moved up to the camp and been given fierri communicators. Hailey sat back on a crate, double checking her x699. The prototypes were done testing and she finally got to be the first to use the final product. Chen was on a crate across from her and had already finished readying his M4 rifle but his seemed happier than usual to have it.

"You seem a bit happy," she remarked as Steven coddled his gun. Chen waved a pair of ammo magazines in the air in response.

"The techs back home have begun giving us plasma-tipped rounds," he chuckled.

"Won't plasma-tipped rounds overheat the gun?"

"Remember the Eloran heatsinks we procured before? They keep the gun cool enough to shoot."

Chen chuckled in glee. It was one alien weapon per team and he was never the one to have one. Now he got a pretty close substitute. It seemed odd having these advancements, though. The humans in Milky Way always stood apart from their aliens allies because of their seemingly primitive projectile weapons. Now they were making strives to improve said weapons.

"Sorry I'm late!" Felger called out as he rushed toward the duo. They were all ready, dressed in the black battle uniforms and tactical vest. Felger may be the most obvious about it but they were all excited. He stopped in front of them, though he did give Hailey a nervous glance.

The fierri were gearing up too, putting on their suits of metal armor and picking up large metal round shields. Even Soren had joined the group. They didn't trust him with a rifle so they gave him a hand axe instead.

All the troops suddenly began standing up at attention. Chen and Hailey did the same, knowing something was happening.

"Officer at the front!" one of the troops announced as they all gathered along the sides as Iado came marching down, his helmet in hand with Soren marching on his left. With the troops in two lines with their shields and rifles it was a wall of metal with rifle barrels sticking out.

"At ease," Iado boomed. His command and voice were serious but there was almost a relaxed, even playful, tone in his statement. The troops eased up on command but still remained ready.

Chen and Hailey walked up to Iado with Felger behind them. All was ready. They worked for this moment. Chen looked back at Felger, who still had that giddy smile on his face.

Iado gave the trio a nod as he walked up the hole in the side of the structure, staring into the darkness.

"Here we go!" he announced, placing his helmet on his head. "Frontline, move up!"

-.-

Chen was beginning to wonder if the people who built this pyramid was even advanced in the first place. There wasn't a single visible scrap of technology. It was just a giant structure of stone, the dark halls only illuminated by their flashlights. The fierri vanguard led the group, their shields and rifles at the front. The rest of them followed behind, scanning barren stone halls, their every footstep echoing through the corridors. The exploration team was fairly small, only five fierri, meaning there were only eight people in total. The rest were holding the entrance of the structure. For what it was worth, the place was impressive. Aside from what seemed like endless hallways and pointless rooms they had walked through a large chamber that looked like a meeting room, several large dining halls, even a bridge over a massive chamber. It was as if someone had tried to build a mansion out of stone but left out all furnishings. While they were certainly happy about finding this place, and eager to explore it, they were hoping for technology, not stone.

"If something once lived here they didn't leave anything behind," Chen observed. There wasn't a single thing left, not even rotting furniture. Even the dining hall had tables of stone but no chairs.

"This place is freakin creepy," Jennifer muttered, shining her flashlight against the walls as if she was looking for any sort of decoration, but the entire place looked abandoned and dead.

Their footsteps echoed as the hall led to another massive chamber. It may have been dark but they could see the silhouette of balconies along the walls and bridges crisscrossing above them, a huge pit at the center.

"Hold up," a voice echoed from the front. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Whatever was going on had set the vanguard on edge. Iado, and Soren made their way to the front, the troops stepping out of the way for them.

"Uh, Felger," Hailey said, rather embarrassed that she had to say this. "Can you see what's happening?" She and Chen were the shortest of their teams. The fierri may be shorter than the average human but the two of them weren't tall enough to see over their alien friends' heads. Only Felger had a big enough height difference to see over everyone else.

"I think they found something," Felger said. Chen and Hailey exchanged shocked glances before immediately pushing their way to the front.

The front troops stepped to the side and let the two past. Immediately their eyes landed on the thing that caught the vanguards' attention.

"Are those suits of armor?" Jennifer asked, looking at the five humanoid figures sprawled on the ground. The pyramid was built back during the height of the Alliance for Four Great Races and if some poor sap died in those suits their bodies would have decayed into dust long ago. If their craftsmanship really was that good, then only their armor would be left behind. But Soren wasn't buying it. Some of the fierri shifted uncomfortably as he walked up to the figure for a closer look.

"It those are suits of armor, what's holding them together?" Iado asked. Soren picked up the limp arm for a closer look. He looked into the suit's eye ports which were oily black.

"These aren't suits of armor," Soren grunted. Soren traced an opening the hard surface on the chest, dragging his fingers through the white opaque liquid. "Feel this." Hailey knelt down and put her hand on the limp arm Soren held out.

"It feels like a crab shell," she said, taking a step back and wiping her hand on her pants. "Wait a minute, so that's actually a person?!"

"Crab person," Chen added bluntly. "But you know what this means, right?"

"It means this pyramid isn't so empty after all," Iado concluded. He looked around nervously, his rifle at the ready. Hailey and Chen looked at each other. It should've been impossible yet the proof was right there. The pyramid was not empty.

The fierri began moving around, the vanguard taking positions around the group, shields at the ready in case of attack. Felger stepped out of the mass of people, his eyes locked on the giant hole in the ground. He stepped up to the edge and looked down. He felt like he was looking over the edge of a balcony on a skyscraper. He walked around it, trying to see if he could get a better view of what was in there. He could barely see the ground below but he could spot something glowing down there, warm air rising from the shaft like he was standing over an oven. He looked around, picking up a decent sized rock from the ground and tossing it in. He watched as the fist-sized stone shrunk to the size of a speck in the distance before disappearing from sight. He waited a bit longer before he heard a distant thud echo from the chamber below. He gave a nervous nod as he processed how deep the hole was. He was about to step away when he heard something else. It sounded like voices, angry whispering coming from the hole.

The entire structure began to rumble. He could feel the floor shaking. Dust shook loose from the ceiling, sand and silt pouring to the floor. Felger stumbled backwards in shock. He wanted to rush back to the crowd of shield-bearing fierri but that would mean going past the pit that was between him and them, and there was something coming. He could feel it; there was something coming from the pit.

"Something is happening," Soren said hoarsely, standing up and taking out his hand axe.

"What gave that away?!" Iado barked, readying his rifle. The fierri vanguards took forward positions, their shields turning to a massive metal wall. It felt like the whole planet was shaking. Chen and Hailey raised their weapons, not sure what to do. Then, as quickly as it began, it stopped. Silence flooded the empty chamber, echoing through the corridors. Soren kept a tight grip on his axe, scanning the darkness for danger. Steven and Jennifer exchanged glances, not wanting to drop their guard. Felger could still feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, ready to bolt out of there in a moment's notice.

From the pit, a large stone sphere rose from the hole, stopping in the air in front of the group, hovering in the middle of the chamber like it was held by some supernatural force. Everyone readjusted themselves to face the potential threat but they all knew they were facing something they could never understand. They watched as the top of the orb opened like some alien flower, the 'petals' uncurling to reveal what was hidden within, like a demon opening its hand to show what it had to offer. Even in the shadows, they could see a figure crouched on the platform; a being that was as black as night yet stood out as clear as day. It was as if even the darkness was afraid to touch it.

The figure stood up, an enormous black silhouette rising from the gloom. Hailey glanced back at the bodies on the floor, realizing that the figure was the same species; a hulking humanoid covered in a sturdy gray shell, spines of varying length protruding from its surface. Its three finger-like jaws clicked as it examined the room with its four pitch black eyes. With a wave of its hand, the dark room slowly illuminated, orange light radiating out of the cracks in the walls like they were veins of energy. Its especially long four-jointed index finger pointed at the balconies which also lit up. Everyone watched as the platform hovered across the room, the being staring down upon them.

 _"I wondered when you would return."_

The words resonated through the room, the voice clear and articulate. Everyone had fallen dead silent, too speechless by what they beheld. Felger pressed himself against the wall behind the figure, stunned he hasn't been seen yet.

The fierri formed a defensive wall, not wanting to fight but not wanting to expose their backs while running. Hailey and Chen stood behind the metal wall, looking at the levitating being.

The alien floated down upon them on its platform, its eyes locked on the two humans.

 _"You thought you had vanquished us, but you challenged what you could never comprehend. What hubris thinking that you had the right meddle in affairs that were not yours. It is time you pay for your arrogance."_

More figures stepped out onto the balconies around the room, watching their master approach the intruders. Hailey looked back at the figure on the platform, who had floated down in front of them, completely unintimidated by their weapons. It was as if he knew that anything they do was hopeless.

The figure held out its left hand, the dull gray gauntlet glowing with power, and closed it into a fist. The seven of them tried to hold on but it was no use; their weapons and shields were ripped from their hands and sent flying across the room. With another wave of the figure's hand the seven of them flew back and slammed against the stone wall. The alien walked up to them, eyeing the helpless figures in his grip.

 _"You were the architects of our downfall. Now you shall be the architects of our return. The era of the human race shall draw to an end. The era of the Makhai has come again."_


	3. Chapter 3

Felger only remembered running, sprinting through the halls as fast as he could. He had just watched his friends get captured before his eyes, a giant alien disarming and incapacitating them with a wave of his hand. He had to get away. He had to escape.

As he stumbled into a familiar room, a wave of relief passed through his body. It was one of the halls he had walked through before. He knew the way out. He was about to make a mad break down the hall when he heard something: footsteps. He dove behind a stone column, pressing himself against the structure. The footsteps were way too heavy to be human or fierri. They stopped in the room, silence filling the chamber. Jay nervously peeked out from around the corner. A pair of makhai had marched in, an ornate obsidian chest in their hands. These makhai weren't as terrifying as their leader, not as tall and their spines were not as long or sharp, but they still looked like hulking nightmare soldiers of a monster army. They set down the chest with a rocky thump that echoed through the room and down the halls.

Felger had to chuckle to himself. This was like a military movie and he was the secret agent spying on the enemy soldiers talking about their plan. Well, just as the role would have him do, he tried to listen in on their conversation.

It was stunning what the makhai language sounded like considering how articulate their leader was. He couldn't understand what any of the words meant but he could clearly hear each syllable covered by the natural guttural hiss in coming from their mouth and each word linked together by an unmistakable snarl.

The two makhai marched out of the room, leaving the ornate chest behind.

Felger waited an extra minute, making sure the makhai had left, before scurrying up to the glossy black chest, bronze lining the edges to hold the entire thing together. Questions were racing through Felger's mind. Who were these guys, really? Have they been living in this pyramid this entire time? And why were they moving chests here? It seemed rather convenient for them to leave it here. He reached down and unlatched the lid, swinging the top open and looking inside.

"Oh wow," he breathed in awe. The chest was full of weapons. Long rifles were carefully lined at one end and black pistols lining the other. He picked up one of the pistols and looked at it. It looked like a triangular nail gun like the ones you would pick up at the hardware store. He wanted to shoot it at the wall just to see what it looked like but he didn't want to make too much noise. He was going to stuff the gun into his pocket but it was too big and he didn't want to accidentally shoot himself so he just held it as he picked up one of the rifles. It looked like an earth rifle in many ways, though the front grip where the hand would go was protected by a serrated blade that extended into a bayonet at the front.

Felger knew what he had to do. His friends have been taken by an ancient evil and it is up to him to rescue them and save the galaxy. He saved SG1 before and now it's time to do it again.

He gripped the rifle tight but another memory cut in.

"You're so desperate to impressive everyone that you rush into things without thinking if it makes it sense."

Felger looked at the hall that led back into the pyramid. He looked back down the hall that would lead outside. He should go get help, but he wanted to go back in and rescue his friends. He looked back…then forth. He clenched his fist in anger. He had made up his mind.

-.-

Hailey put her hand to her temple. He felt like she had just been cracked over the head with a rock. Then again, the last thing she remembered was being thrown into a rock wall. The cold damp air around her wasn't helping the situation either. Her eyes finally opened, letting out a groan as she sat up. As she sat back she felt a cold metal bar greet her spine. Her eyes were still watering from being hit so hard. As she wiped the water from her eyes she noticed Chen sitting against the wall opposite of her. He gave an unenthusiastic wave.

"Whaddup," he grunted.

"What's happening," Hailey groaned, still groggy and dizzy from what had happened. She replayed the last things she remembered in her head.

"Take a look," Chen said, gesturing to the outside of the cage. Hailey looked outside, realizing the cage was hanging off the edge of a cliff overlooking a huge chamber. She could see other cages on the edges of other cliffs around the chasm, though she couldn't tell if they were occupied or not. The room below was lit up by an eerie red glow and in the crimson light, she could see dozens of figures marching across the cave floor, dozens of Makhai.

"No question anymore," Hailey remarked. "Looks like the Makhai have been hiding here since their fall."

"Looks like it," Chen said in a bored tone.

"Amazing, really. They've been hiding here for thousands of years and hadn't progressed technologically at all."

"Well, according to Dannick, they relied on slaves and theft to get new technology," Chen recited. "No slaves, no new stuff."

"Yeah but still…thousands of years… They must've gone underground like this to avoid detection, and the stone pyramid would be ignored by scanners."

"Hey, Hailey," Chen interrupted. "I'm really glad you find all this cool and all but…I don't suppose you have anything hidden on you." Jennifer looked back at him in confusion, not sure why he would ask this as she shook her head.

"Thought so," Steven mumbled. "Terra usually keeps a push dagger and a pair of bobby pins in her boot." He plopped back against the cage, looking out across the gorge.

"Guess we'll be stuck here for a while," Hailey sighed, trying to find a comfortable position on the stone floor. "Where'd they take the fierri?" she asked, trying to see if she could find their comrades in any of the other cages. "Odd that they chose to separate us."

"Well, it at least confirms one thing," Steven pointed out. "Felger must've gotten away or he'd be in here with us."

"That's good, right?"

"Depends on whether the nitwit goes to get help or tries to rescue us himself."

"Hopefully he goes back to Millennium for reinforcements," Hailey agreed. She remembered reading the report of how Felger had saved SG-1 after they were captured. Initially an undercover operation, it turned into an actual rescue when everything went wrong. She could only hope that this didn't have to be like that.

"Hey," Chen suddenly called out, interrupting her chain of thought. "You notice anything weird about the Makhai?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they did act like they knew us," Chen remarked, thinking about the Makhai's speech.

"You're right," she said thoughtfully. "He kept acting like we fought before. And not just fought. He acted like we were the ones that beat them. What do you think that's about?"

Before either of them could say another word, a loud clank at the front caught their attention. A pair of Makhai had marched around the corner, bulky rifles in their hands. One of them opened the cage door and stood to the side, waiting for its occupants to come out.

"Guess we're gonna find out," Chen said, standing up. Hailey did the same and followed him out of the cage. She looked at the two hulking guards, who looked like they could snap her in two. With the sharpened points in their shells, it looked like they could impale her with a mere swing of its arm.

The makhai guard gave a grunt and gestured forward. She didn't like being prisoner but she knew better than to challenge the giant crab soldiers. Her legs were sore from being stuck in that cramped cage so it was nice to be able to stretch them out as the guards led them through the humid tunnels. It was surprisingly well lit, light coming out of what looked like rivers of glowing energy flowing through veins in the walls. Even as she was escorted through the halls she kept a sharp eye out for other makhai. Most of the ones she saw were carrying large crates to god knows where. The only other ones were guards standing at the ready. From what the Makhai they met earlier said, it sounded like they were ready to take over the galaxy. And while that would explain why so many of them were moving supplies around, they barely had enough troops to invade a small country let alone a galaxy.

Chen was paying less attention to the makhai and more attention to the tunnels they were escorted through. It looked like the interior of a giant medieval fortress, a shockingly smooth layout of brick forming the walls, ceiling, and floor. Their every footstep echoed down the halls and into other open chambers. It was a lot tidier than the pyramid above, which had a dirt floor and uneven walls. It seems like this entire lower structure was centered around the giant chasm their cage overlooked and they were headed for the bottom.

They finally reached the bottom of the chamber, stepping out into the open. Chen looked up. They were so deep he couldn't even see the top.

He could only guess that they were at the bottom of the chamber they saw before they were captured.

The guards led them to a room at the side of the pit, a small chamber blocked off by a pair of ragged curtains. The guards gave a grunt and gestured toward the room. Hailey looked at the guards nervously. Hopefully, they weren't being led into an execution chamber.

"Guess we shouldn't keep our host waiting," Chen remarked, taking a breath and walking in. Hailey looked at the guards once more before following. The room was lit up by a single glowing orb atop a pedestal at the center, filling the room with an orange glow. Staring at the orb from the far end of the room was the first makhai that they first saw. It was only then, standing before him, did they realize how much bigger he was compared to the other makhai, his shell more menacing with more spines and spikes. The makhai slowly turned around, its unblinking glare piercing their souls.

"I bid you welcome to our humble home," it said. Hailey couldn't help but quiver in nervousness at how fluent the alien could speak, especially since its mouth looked like it was composed of fingers. "Please, come in."

"Thanks, but we're fine right here," Hailey said, still standing with Chen near the entrance.

"Please," the makhai replied, holding out his left hand and curling his fingers into a fist. "I insist." Chen and Hailey let out a startled gasp as they were yanked forward and to the ground. They slowly picked themselves up, even closer to the glowing orb than before.

"Alright, alright, we get it!" Chen barked, picking himself up and stepping closer. The makhai paced around the room for a bit, looking at the orb as if he was looking into a crystal ball.

"After over a millennia, the humans who have chased us here have found us once again," it said slowly.

Chen and Hailey exchanged unsure glances.

"Guess we should skip the whole 'peaceful explorers' stuff?" he asked with a shrug.

"Who are you?" Hailey demanded to know. The makhai looked at her with a sideways glance, his arms folded behind his back as he paced back and forth.

"I am Ortha the Ranger," the Makhai answered, stepping out from behind the pedestal. "I am the overseer of the last of our people. What about you, though? Tell me, how did you come here? How did you finally find us?"

"Right…" Hailey said awkwardly. "You got us confused with someone else. I have no idea what you're talking about." The makhai gave her a suspicious look. He walked up to her, his towering shadow looming over her. Hailey was had always been shorter than average and this guy was massive even to a normal human.

"Perhaps I am not clear in my intent," Ortha said, his tone suddenly darkening. "I simply want information. How I get that information, through pleasant conversation or through torture, is up to you. If I must, I can have my interrogator put a pike through every joint in your hand before we speak again."

"She's not lying," Chen spoke up. Ortha immediately turned his attention to the other human, pacing the room again as he listened. "Some group of humans kicked the crap out of you but it wasn't us."

"Your uniforms are identical to theirs last we fought," Ortha remarked. "As are your weapons."

"And how long ago was that?" Hailey asked. She knew memory would probably degrade over the course of thousands upon thousands of years. Then it occurred to her. "Wait a minute, how do you remember that?" Hailey looked at Chen, who seemed confused by what she was getting at. "The makhai were supposed to have been defeated before the Ancients even ascended. You act like you were alive back then." Chen felt like a sledgehammer had just been dropped on him. It hadn't even occurred to him. The only race he could think of that still had survivors from the time of the Ancients were the wraith due to their feeding and regenerative abilities. It seemed almost implausible that the makhai could do exactly the same.

Ortha fell silent, his suspicious gaze falling on the two of them.

"Come," he said, slowly walking out of the room. Chen and Hailey looked at each other. Ortha wasn't guarded but they felt like they couldn't really fight him.

"Well, it's either we follow or he'll pull us after him," Chen pointed out with a shrug. He walked after their 'host', leaving Hailey in the room. She looked around, wanting to grab something to fight back with, but she knew it was better to play along for now.

She followed Chen out, glancing at the two guards. This whole thing didn't feel like an interrogation. Then again, Ortha did say he was perfectly fine with conversation as long as he got the information he wanted. She certainly didn't want to be tortured but her first and foremost priority was to not give information. The only thing she could think of was to just give bare-bones information, maybe even just lie. Flashes of the report involving the first encounter with the wraith popped in her mind. No matter what happened, she must not tell them about Earth.

Ortha led them to the other side of the chamber. He approached a brick wall and, with a wave of his hand, a decent sized section of the wall was launched backwards, flying down a hallway hidden behind it and stopping at the end of the hall. He led the two humans in, the corridor lighting up with an orange glow. As he reached the end of the hall, a pedestal rose from the floor, a glimmering teardrop-shaped crystal sitting on it.

Hailey looked at the crystal curiously, then she stopped as the truth hit her. Chen noticed her sudden shock and so did Ortha.

"Hailey, what is it?" Chen asked.

"You recognize our gem," Ortha concluded. Even the armored alien couldn't hide his excitement.

"No," Hailey replied, shaking her head. Ortha paused, thinking about what to do next.

"That's unfortunate," he said in disappointment. The sound of heavy footstep echoed through the corridor as two makhai guards marched down the hall.

"Take them back to their cages," Ortha ordered. He watched as Hailey and Chen followed his men back to their cells. He glanced at the crystal sitting on the pedestal as it was lowered back into the floor. He silently walked out of the hallway and, waving his gauntlet, pulled the sliding wall forth, blocking off the entrance once more. As he looked back at the prisoners, and the finger-like appendages that made up his jaw curled into what looked like a smile.

-.-

Being the man, or rather the fierri, in charge had its benefits. They get their own tent, a larger share of the meals, even some quiet time. Crux was thoroughly enjoying this as he dug into his food. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the crackle of his communicator.

"Commander Crux," a voice said. The Commander grumbled in annoyance. He was enjoying a meal. He stood up and tapped on the gray card-like device at the edge of his table.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Sir, I have a vanguard escorting Felger back to base via koruga," the man on the other side explained. "He says he needs to talk to you."

"Did he say why?" Crux asked in annoyance. They were supposed to be exploring an empty pyramid. This was supposed to be a routine exploration mission. What could possibly have gone wrong?

"Sir, he says the Makhai have returned." Crux felt his blood run cold, thinking about what Chen and Hailey told them about the Makhai. Right on time, Crux could hear the unmistakable roar of a koruga arriving into camp.

"Understood, soldier," Crux said through the communicator as he headed for the front of the tent. "He's arrived." He set the device back down and rushed out of his tent. Right on cue, there was Felger dismounting from the koruga, an alien rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other. He let the two weapons fall to the ground as he leaned forward to catch his breath.

"Get this man to the medical tent," Crux ordered. He then glanced at the two guns Felger had been carrying with him. "And get these weapons to the labs!" Crux watched as two of his men proceeded to haul Felger away while another picked up the weapons and walked away. Crux glared at the pyramid in the distance. Something had happened and he was going to find out what but he first needed to prepare for the worst.

"Soldier," he called to the nearest troop. "Take a koruga and travel back to the valgrind. Contact Prime Minister Pavell and tell him we need crawler mines and hunter-seeker drones delivered here." Crux watched as the troop's eyes widened in shock.

"Sir, those weapons were used in the New Genesis War," he protested.

"I know, but their lethality is unquestionable. The humans warned us about the Makhai and I am not about to accidentally unleash some ancient evil on this galaxy. Tell Minister Pavell I want those weapons!"

The soldier gave a reluctant nod before running for the koruga pens. Crux marched off for the medical tent. They hadn't needed it since Soren taught them how to train the korugas but now they needed to get Felger speaking normally again. He needed to know what was happening. The fierri stormed into the tent. Felger was situated on a table, sipping a glass of water. The two fierri vanguards who took him there remained in the room, standing in the corner. The nurse was already busy drying Felger of his sweat and his face was less red. Crux walked up to the man, pausing to give Felger another moment to recover.

"How are you feeling?" Crux finally asked. Felger quickly finished his cup of water. His throat was dry and raspy from sprinting through the pyamid. It felt so weird running for help. He still thought he should've gone back and saved his friends, just like he did with SG-1. But Chen's words kept echoing through his mind.

"Much better," Felger finally replied. He accepted another cup of water from the medic and chugged it down.

"Doctor, I need to know what happened," Crux said sternly. "Where are the others?"

Felger cleared his throat again.

"The Makhai," he explained. "They're not gone." The fierri in the room exchanged nervous glances. They may not have heard of Makhai but any race that could inspire the stories of spirits of war and murder was bad news. "They captured the others. This one big guy had some sort of glove on his left hand that let him pull and push everyone. That's how he caught everyone. I was able to escape."

Crux's face darkened as he took in this new information.

"Did you see anything else that you can tell us?" he asked. Felger just shook his head.

"No," he said sadly. "We gotta go back there and save the gang."

Crux didn't respond. He just gave a nod to his two men, who nodded back and quickly left the tent.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?!" Felger called out. "What're we doing?" If the fierri were mounting a rescue, he wanted in on it.

"You aren't doing anything," Crux barked. "The Elite Guard of the country Valken shall lead a rescue mission. You are going to stay behind and wait for us." Felger opened his mouth in protest. He wanted to help his friends. He wanted to do something aside from throwing other people into the firing line.

"But, I can help!" he argued.

"Sit!" Crux ordered, running to the door. "Stay!" he added before leaving. Felger was left on the hospital bed, staring at the exit, not sure what to do next.

-.-

Crux rushed out of the medical tent and for the main lab. He hadn't given the scientists much if any time to study the alien weapons but he had to see if they had discovered anything in the few minutes they've had the weapons.

"Sir!" a voice called out. Crux watched another one of his men run up to him before standing at attention. "Vardin reported back. Minister Pavell has agreed to send over weapons from the Genesis War. But…" Crux could tell the man didn't want to say the next through, hesitant to reveal his feelings to his superior officer.

"Speak your mind," Crux ordered.

"Sir, some of the men are concerned at what we're about to do. It seems as though we're going to use weapons from the Genesis War to perform another genocide." Crux fell silent, knowing that the soldier was right. The Makhai may have been some ancient evil but to wipe them out was genocide, something he was about to do without question. Worse, they were about to do it with the same weapons that were used before.

"What would you have me do?" he asked his subordinate.

"I don't know. Maybe seal up the pyramid."

"If the Makhai are as advanced as we believe then burying the pyramid simply delays the inevitable," Crux replied. He grumbled thoughtfully. The thought of committing another genocide was sickening, but this was an ancient evil. Even so, they were still exchanging one evil for another. But if the makha are let loose on the galaxy, wouldn't that be a worse evil? "I will give them a chance, one chance. But if they are what the stories say they are, I will unleash the full extent of our weapons."

The soldier looked at the ground. The tales of the mass murder committed by their forefathers still left a bitter taste in all their mouths. But he had to agree that they could not let the Makhai out.

-.-

Felger laid back in his hospital bed. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. He could hear the men organizing outside over the course of the next hour. And as quickly as they assembled, he could hear them march off. He clenched his fist. Everything had fallen quiet once more. If Chen had taught him anything then he knew that coming back here was not a mistake, no matter how much he didn't want to do it. But now the troops had left and he had been left behind.

He tried to keep reminding himself of why he was brought here, but he could not just sit by and do nothing. Something else also felt wrong. Chen may have been partially right, half the stupid crap he's pulled was to impress everyone, but there was more. Felger could it. Felger may gone after SG-1 hoping for some title or form of recognition but when it looked like things were about to go wrong, he felt fear; not for him getting looked down upon for his failures but fear that his role-models were about to die. He felt the same now. It wasn't General Mercer's scorn or the laughter of the other scientists that was playing through his mind. If the makhai were as evil as the Ancients describe them to be, he could only imagine what would happen to Hailey and Chen. Chen gave him a chance when he had every reason to just give up. Hailey was Carter's hand-picked pupil and even Carter could not fix him; but Hailey wanted to try. They were both going to die if they were left in the makhai's hands.

Felger gave a final grumble and stood up. He had made up his mind.

-.-

Hailey was quiet ever since she got back to the cage. Chen knew something was wrong, that something had scared Hailey speechless but he couldn't tell what.

"Jennifer," Chen finally spoke up. This snapped Hailey out of her trance. Chen gave an awkward wave. "Hailey, what's going on?"

"Well, simply put…" Hailey remarked with casual sarcasm. "We might be in trouble."

"Right, I kinda got that by the way you're pissing your pants. Mind explaining how, now?"

Hailey leaned back against the cage. A part of her hoped she was overreacting.

"That crystal was…it was a transporter's memory crystal," Hailey finally stuttered. The truth finally hit Chen over the head like an anvil. He sat back and groaned in frustration over his own ignorance. One thing transporters all had in common was how they functioned: dematerializing an object and saving it as data before sending it to its destination. It seemed the Makhai had removed the memory crystals that stored that data.

"Guess we should've seen this coming," he sighed. "If they wanted to retake the galaxy they'd need more troops than can fit on an entire planet let alone a pyramid."

"And ships and weapons," Hailey added. "And it's doubtful that that'd be the only crystal."

"Meaning they could have an entire army and fleet saved up and waiting for rematerialization," Chen concluded. "Think the question remains: why are they showing us?" Chen glanced back out of the cage and over the chasm, still scanning the open walkways and stone balconies.

"Well, I don't think it's their technology," Hailey remarked. "It looks like the crystal in the Ancient ring platforms that I used to study back at Area 51."

"So they want us to fix their stuff," Chen concluded. He had no idea how powerful the makhai were but if they were as bad as the Ancients said then they needed to put these aliens down before they could summon their armies.

He stared out across the chasm. He needed to get his mind off this. There were plenty of cages, all empty. What was the point of all those cages if they were going to be left empty? Unless…they used to all be full…

"What're you looking at?" Hailey asked, knocking Chen out of his trance.

"I'm trying to find where they're holding the fierri," Steven explained. "We can't be the only ones being interrogated. We should also be thinking of a way to get out of here."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that too," Hailey remarked. "SG-1 used to escape situations like this all the time."

"Hailey, hate to break it to you, but we're not SG-1."

An awkward silence quickly fell on them at Chen's blunt reminder. They weren't SG-1 and weren't even close to being like them. Hailey may have been considered a clone of the great Samantha Carter but even then it was only a quarter of the legendary team.

"A girl can dream, can't she?"

"No, comparing yourself to Carter is a dream; comparing yourself to SG-1 is a delusion."

-.-

Felger was out of breath already. He may have only been carrying a trazer stun pistol but the run to the pyramid was not easy. But he knew he had to save his friends.

The front door of the pyramid was in sight. He was nearly there. He leapt out of the bushes with a triumphant yell. Then his face sagged as he noticed dozens of fierri at the camp in front of the pyramid, all of them staring at him. He imagined how silly he looked jumping out of the bushes yelling like a maniac right in front of what was the equivalent of the enemy base.

"So…hey guys," Felger coughed awkwardly.

"What the hel are you doing?!" a voice demanded to know. Felger watched Crux step out of the crowd. He was prepping for a potential rescue mission. He had already dawned a metal helmet and was ready for battle. The last thing he needed was a nuisance. The fierri officer had ordered Felger to stay at camp but here he was. Felger paled for a moment, taking a step back, not sure what to say. But he took a breath and a step forward.

"I came to see how I can help," he announced.

"Doctor, I ordered you to stay at camp," Crux barked. He grumbled angrily at the human. The one thing military leaders always want is to be able to operate freely, without anything hindering them. Having to protect civilians counted as a hindrance. So the only question remained: should he send Felger back or find a way for the guy to be useful?

Crux glanced at some of the scientists working at an open crate.

"Fine," he barked. "There is one thing you could help us do. But you have to work under our scientists' supervision."

Felger eagerly straightened his back and gave a salute.

"I won't let you down," he said proudly before rushing to join the engineers working at the crates.

-.-

Their footsteps echoed through the cave as the Makhai guards led Chen and Hailey through the corridors once more, Ortha at the front. As they walked, Chen leaned toward Hailey and hissed,

"Something's wrong. He seems way more pissed off than before."

Hailey didn't answer. She knew he was right. Ortha kept them alive this long because he needed them to do something and he needed them to do it now.

"I'm afraid our time draws short," he said bluntly. "My patience wears thin so I shall be blunt about this." There was a rumble as the rock wall ahead of them seemed to retract into the wall. As the two humans were led inside their jaws dropped at what they beheld. As the doors opened, light flooded out of the stone gates, light coming from hundreds of memory crystals. The door led to a balcony which overlooked a massive chamber with countless glowing crystals lining the walls.

"Regardless of whether or not you are the Terrans who decimated our empire, we now require your services," Ortha explained. There was a clank as the Makhai warriors behind them prepped their weapons and aimed them at Chen and Hailey. "It is time you help us summon our brothers and sisters."

"How do you expect us to do that?" Hailey barked. "We don't even know what that thing is."

"Please do not try to deceive me, I'm not in the mood," Ortha warned menacingly. "Each cage is planted with a surveillance device. We heard all your conversations."

Hailey could've dropped to the floor in embarrassment. The Goa'uld, Wraith, Asurans, Ori, Lucian Alliance, just about every alien race they had met so far did not bother putting cameras or anything to monitor the prison cells. SG teams had gotten used to planning their escapes from their cells over and over again. Because of that, she assumed it was safe to discuss things with Chen. She knew it also spelt bad news. If the Makhai heard their conversations then there would be no question that, at the very least, she had studied the memory crystals in the past. Chen quickly picked up on this too. He had to buy time or they might try to torture Hailey into helping them.

"Why do you need our help?" he demanded to know. "Can't you just beam your guys back out by yourselves?"

"The technology you see before you is not ours," Ortha explained. "It was once operated and maintained by slaves that we had acquired from across the galaxies; scientists and engineers that would work for us. Unfortunately, they proved more difficult to maintain. While we were able to learn what to do to dematerialize our brothers into the crystal, we were unable to figure out how to get them back out and the scientists chose to perish rather than tell us."

"It's more than that, isn't it?" Chen asked, half because he needed to buy more time and half because he actually did know how computers work. "Those things have to be several thousand years old; no way data stays perfectly fine after all that time."

"You are correct," Ortha answered. "To our understanding, the data preserved in these matrices has likely been corrupted to some degree; a small degree perhaps but even that small degree will affect those who come out. The information is likely retrievable but only if done properly. I was the last Ranger to be summoned before the last of our slaves died, a survivor of the war that forced us to where we are now. My crystal was deemed the only one safe to extract from. I took control of our people and continued to wait for the right time to return and the right people to make that possible. And now my patience has run out."

Chen gritted his teeth frustration. He knew what would come next and he couldn't think of anything else to say to buy time. They were going to torture her for information, force her to help them with the crystal, or brutalize her until she does.

"You're barking up the wrong tree," Chen finally said. He felt adrenaline shoot through his body, his muscles tensing up fearfully knowing what will happen if he does this. It could spare Hailey…or make her position even worse. "Hailey was one of the newer scientists and she worked with hardware, not software."

"Steve, what're you doing?" Hailey hissed.

"Saving your ass," Chen barked back. "Spare Jennifer and I'll fix your crap for you."

Ortha gave an almost disappointed sigh and shook his head.

"Why must you lie to me?" he sighed. "Now you have put in me in an awkward situation. It is apparent that either one or both of you are qualified to find a solution to our problem. Unfortunately, I lack both time and patience. So either one of you will help us or the interrogator will proceed how he chooses right in front of the other."

Hailey watched as the Makhai's face darkened. Even with his hideous appearance, there was still something about Ortha that seemed so formal and gentlemanly. But all that receded like an ocean tide, his true nature revealed beneath.

"If you kill us, we can't get your people out," Hailey threatened.

"This is exactly what the slaves threatened as they perished," Ortha said with a sigh. "It is true: if you died then we would be unable to achieve our goal. However, I strongly doubt you need your teeth or tongue to perform your duties."

One of the Makhai slung its rifle over its shoulder and drew a serrated dagger, stepping in front of Chen and Hailey as if awaiting the command of who he should begin with. The Makhai ranger gave and nod and the guard before them reached out and seized Hailey by the jaw, lifting the small woman off the ground. Hailey struggled a bit as her entire body weight was placed on her throat. She figured this would be the result.

Chen looked at Hailey, not sure what to do next. If he acted panicked or begged for him to be tortured in her place then the Makhai would know that the tactic was working. He needed to buy more time but couldn't think of anything. Hailey still remained defiant.

"Do you worst!" she managed to growl through her chokes. It seemed like Ortha was about to give the command, about to order his guard to commence the torture.

Rapid footsteps echoed through the chamber as another Makhai emerged in the doorway. It quickly said something to Ortha, whose face grew even more irritated. The Makhai holding Hailey suddenly released its grip. She fell to the ground, coughing and choking as Ortha stormed out of the chamber.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Chen called out. The two Makhai guards remained where they stood, clearly there to stop them from going anywhere in the meantime. Chen looked at Hailey but she gave a thumbs up before he could speak.

She gave another cough and stood up. Her throat still felt like it had been impaled with needles but she could at least breathe again.

"Something's got his feathers ruffled," she remarked, staring down the hallway Ortha just stormed through.

"I know," Chen remarked. "Question is: is that good or bad for us?"

-.-

The sound of Crux's footsteps echoed through the chamber. He could feel the soundwaves bouncing off the rock walls and vibrating his boots. Shield in one hand and rifle in the other, Crux banged his rifle against the metal shield, listening to the noise echo through the chamber. He glanced back at the dozen troops behind them. They had all formed a wall of metal, shields at the front and rifle barrels peering through them. Crux knew Felger was behind the unbreakable wall, ready to enact the plan at a moment's notice. He glanced at the gray boxes that had rolled up beside him. Everything was in place. It was time for the ultimate test.

He banged on his shield again, waiting for a response. According to Felger, this was the chamber where the Makhai leader had emerged. He could clearly see the massive hole in the center of the chamber. He stared at the pit, waiting for something to happen. A dead silence hung in the air. But it wasn't just the silence that felt dead. This whole pyramid reeked with death. Felger felt it too. Something was happening and happening quickly.

The walls of the chamber began to shake, sand shifting out of the cracks onto the floor. Crux gripped his rifle tighter and raised his shield, ready for whatever comes.

From the back, Felger stared at the fierri commander. He had seen this before and he knew what was coming. His eyes were locked on the pit in the center of the chamber and he watched as a familiar stone platform rose from the hole, the same Makhai standing on the floating podium.

Ortha looked down upon Crux and his troops, slowly bringing the rock that he stood on near the floor.

"So, even more intruders decide to break into our home," the Makhai said slowly. "What is your business here?"

Crux looked up at the towering figure. It didn't necessarily feel demonic but the thing certainly felt ancient. The descriptions Chen gave him echoed through his head. If these Makhai were as terrible as the tales told then Crux would have no qualms with wiping them out. But, he wanted to make sure. Several thousand years was a long time. The fierri civilization had changed so much in just a hundred. Who knew how much a civilization could change in several thousand? Crux would give them a chance, just one chance to prove they were not the monsters the stories describe.

"I am Squad Commander Crux of the Elite Guard of the country Valken, to whom am I addressing?" he boomed.

"I am Ortha the Ranger. I am the overseer of our people."

Crux kept his eyes fixed on the Makhai. So the man wasn't afraid of idle conversation. Crux shifted his left arm from the shield grip to its forearm straps so he could both fire his rifle and wield a shield at the same time. He had these two weapons as well as a short sword at his waist. His men were waiting in the hallways, waiting for the command to come assist. It was time to pop the question.

"And when you say 'my people', do you mean the Makhai?"

Ortha tilted his head curiously.

"Tell me, what would bring you to ask something like that?" Ortha asked curiously, not the least bit intimidated by Crux knowing their identity. "There is no need to be nervous," he added, noticing Crux's awkward shift when asked this. "We are simply two strangers having a conversation. Why are you so curious whether or not we are the Makhai?"

Ortha may have said not to worry but Cru stilxl was anxious being so outright to the alien.

"We know that whoever lives in this pyramid is an ancient race," Crux said, trying to pick out his words. "Ruins around the pyramid spoke of a race known as the Makhai, a race as old as the Alliance of Four Great Races. But unlike the holy races in the Alliance, the Makhai were conquerors, not honorable warriors but slaughterers that attacked indiscriminately and without mercy. I hear on some planets they chose to name spirits of war and murder after this race. It took the combined efforts of the Ancients and a native civilization to vanquish them. Now, the team we sent in here to explore this pyramid, a structure that supposedly belongs to that race, has been attacked."

"Is that a fact?" Ortha asked casually. It was eerie how calm Ortha was in all this, how uncaring he was over the idea of talking and revealing information. It was as if he had evaluated the value of each bit of information and determined what he could talk about. "Tell me then, what would you do if we are the Makhai you speak of?"

"If you are Makhai? I guess the next question is if you are anything like how the stories describe? If not, I am willing to overlook all this as an accident. But if you are, then the Elite Guard of Valken, the chosen sons of Asgard, will make sure you're taken down."

All of a sudden, coming with the fierri to help seemed like a bad idea to Felger. He had watched this makhai take down seven people with one hand. Now it was up to what Ortha said next. Crux stared up at the alien who stared back.

"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer to? Ortha finally asked. "Yes, we are the Makhai and every story ever written about us and what we've done is likely true. And if given the chance, we would do it all again. Is that the answer you were looking for?" Crux's eyes widened. He may not have realized but that idle talk had done more than he thought. Crux simply wanted to know whether or not the Makhai were as monstrous as the stories described, wanted to make sure they didn't wipe out an innocent race. Ortha simply wanted to know how well known the Makhai were, to see if the galaxy was ready for their return. And now he knew the Makhai were nothing but legend if not less. No one would be ready.

"So that is it?" Crux demanded to know. He could hear the clangs as his troops readied themselves for battle. "You would just admit to being something so horrible?"

"I hardly see what the issue is," Ortha replied. "The Makhai do not care about the concerns and issues of other races and civilizations anymore more than they would care about ours. If you really feel the need to label it I guess you can call it evil and be done with it. We do what is in our best interest. No more and no less."

"So you worship war?" Crux demanded to know. Ortha would raise a curious eyebrow if he had anything like eyebrows.

"We do not worship war," the makhai ranger corrected. "We simply do what is best for our people. Like it or not but sometimes the best way to enhance a nation is through taking what they need from others. Sustaining your nation in a time of peace is one thing but if you truly wish the best for your people you must usher an age of war."

"What good has war ever brought?" Crux asked angrily, his voice reverberating through the caves. Crux may have been getting worked up but Ortha was eerily calm.

"Technological advancement, medicine, common purpose, economy, unity," Ortha listed without moving a muscle. "Just because you blind yourself to the positive effects of war does not mean they don't exist."

"What you listed can be achieved in times of peace."

"That is true. In the end, this is just one of several ways to achieve this. The makhai exploit every means of advancement. Whether that be through peace or conquest, it does not matter to us. The lives and prosperity of our people is our only concern."

"If you only act in the interest of your own people, then why did you attack the scouting party we sent in?" Crux asked.

"We attacked your scouting party because they harbored those we thought to be our enemy. That misunderstanding has been clarified. However, we have no qualms with you, even with the human you have hiding in the back. I advise you now leave this place."

"Our people are in your hands," Crux argued.

"And we will release them if and when we are ready," Ortha said dismissively, his stone platform floating away. "Do what you will, just be warned that we will respond appropriately." Crux had fallen silent, the weight of their conversation bearing down on him as the stone platform floated further away.

"You say the makhai only act in the interest of their own people?" Crux asked.

"They do," Ortha said without looking back.

"So I guess you won't mind if we do the same?" Crux barked, readying his rifle. Ortha glanced back. Crux aimed his rifle but Ortha whipped around, the gauntlet on his left arm glowing like it was made of fire. With a wave of the Makhai's arm, Crux felt his rifle ripped from his hands and sent flying past the Makhai's head. The armored alien prepared to shove Crux away but the fierri commander managed to whip out a pistol and take aim. Ortha waved his hand and the pistol went flying as well. Crux reached down to his belt and pulled off a large metal object the size of an apple and prepared to hurl it at Ortha. The alien's gauntlet glowed again as it ripped the shiny, black, sphere from Crux's hand, the thing flying past Ortha's head.

The entire chamber rumbled as the metal thing suddenly exploded only a few feet away from Ortha, the chamber lighting up from the flames, the noise shaking the walls and rippling the skin, the force knocking the Makhai off the platform and to the ground with a loud crash.

Crux had packed a grenade with a genetic trigger, a weapon used back in the Genesis War to identify fierri of different races through the minutest genetic differences. He had equipped one on his belt, knowing a race completely different like the Makhai would definitely trigger it.

Ortha gripped the ground in frustration and stood up, snarling furiously. He reached out with his left hand as if to rip out Crux's throat but found that his gauntlet had been damaged in the explosion, the gem in his palm shattered like glass, the orange shards sprinkled across the ground. Crux drew his short sword and charged. The Makhai reached behind him and pulled out his pistol, a hand cannon that could turn a head into a bloody stump in one blow. But, with a swing of his shield, Crux sent the weapon flying to the floor. Ortha had just stood up as Crux collided with him, shoving the enormous Makhai backwards. Ortha stumbled backwards a bit, reaching behind him and pulling out what looked like a regular hand axe. But suddenly, Crux watched as the axe handle grew several times in length, a massive spike jutting from the top. Guns may have dominated most battles but when in close range, melee weapons are the tools of butcher. Crux may have had a short sword and shield but Ortha wanted to see how he would fare against a poleaxe.

Ortha swung the axe around, ready for battle. He jammed and slammed the axe against Crux's shield, the blade sliding off, the clangs echoing through the rock chamber. The metal round shield Crux carried was tough enough to stand against weapons fire so no blade was going to penetrate it. Seeing his opening, Crux rushed forwards to close the distance but Ortha saw this coming. The Makhai shifted his grip and swung the shaft toward his opponent. Crux grunted in pain as the metal handle rammed into his jaw, sending him staggering. Crux regained his composure just in time to spin around and deflect the oncoming axe with his sword.

They were both skilled fighters in their ways. Crux's shield made it impossible for him to get hit but Ortha's poleaxe was so long it was impossible to get close enough to him to be hit, and it seemed like Ortha was expecting every attack. But Crux knew of something he wouldn't be expecting.

Crux deflected the next blow with his sword and got in close, pulling his head back before driving it forward into Ortha's face. Ortha roared in pain. He had expected a sword blow, not a sudden head-butt.

Ortha stumbled back. His patience had officially run out.

"Makhai, attack!" he roared. The walls around them came alive as Makhai guards appeared on the balconies. Figures emerged from the hallways across the chamber, rifles at the ready. Crux crouched down and held the large round shield in front of him as huge crystal shards flew through the air, hitting the shield and shattering on impact. These shards were the size of fifty caliber bullets and traveling at twice the speed.

"Felger, now!" Crux roared. Felger reached into his pocket and pressed the trigger he had been given.

The gray boxes that Crux had brought suddenly began moving, the panels shifting and transforming. The walls of the boxes fell away as the robots rose on their inverted legs, the upper body a large armored compartment with barrels attached to the bottom, gun barrels.

Back during the Genesis Wars, hunter-seeker drones equipped with advanced scanners were meant to target and eliminate fierri possessing or lacking certain traits. These drones were designed to be able to fold up into decent sized crates for deployment. After a little modification, the drone no longer recognizes humans or foreign fierri like Soren as targets, but the Makhai were a different story.

Crux gave a battle cry that Felger would swear could be heard back at camp as the fierri flooded out of the hallway and into the room. Felger stayed behind as the entire room was flooded with chaos. The Makhai had better positions to attack from, raining hellfire into the chamber, but the fierri evened the odds with their shields and drones. The machines pounded the enemy positions with their cannons, the rocks exploding into dust with each impact.

Felger stayed low as the rounds flew over his head. The massive crystals may not have been able to penetrate fierri shields but they still went deep into the rocks and he could only imagine the result of it hitting flesh.

It was only then he noticed Ortha limping away, using his poleaxe for help. The explosion would've killed any normal person and it certainly had done a number on him, gooey white liquid flowing from his wounds, chunks of his shell blown off. Felger knew this was his one chance to find his friends.

He picked up a shield from a fallen fierri, holding it as he scampered after Ortha.

-.-

Even from deep within the cavern, Hailey and Chen could hear the battle above. Though, it didn't seem to bother their two guards. Suddenly, they heard echoing footsteps as Ortha swiftly entered the chamber, milky white blood flowing out of its wounds.

"Something wrong?" Chen asked teasingly. "Left the crab cakes in the oven or something?"

Ortha didn't know what that meant and he didn't care.

"Time is up," he stated. "I need my warriors." He glared at the two humans. It was time for a change of tactic. "You did not react to the threat of her suffering. Perhaps she will react to yours."

Chen looked at Hailey, knowing what was about to happen next.

"I'm sorry," Hailey said under her breath.

"Well, it's been fun," Chen replied with a shrug. "You know what, I take it back. You were a pain in the ass."

The guard behind Chen stepped forward, drawing a long serrated dagger. Chen grimaced. He didn't want to even think about what they were going to do to him.

Ortha suddenly looked up in surprise. More footsteps echoed down the hall. The two guards immediately drew their rifles and aimed down the corridor. Hailey and Chen looked behind them. It seemed like a miracle that the fierri found them just in time. Then they felt their hearts drop when they saw who it was who emerged in the hallway.

"Wait!" Felger called out, hiding behind his shield. Ortha snarled in ever-growing agitation.

"Felger, what're you doing here, you idiot?!" Chen snapped.

"I brought the cavalry!" Felger cheered triumphantly.

"You're not supposed to come with the cavalry!" Hailey barked. Felger was beginning to wonder who was scarier: the Makhai or Hailey and Chen?

Felger cleared his throat and straightened his back. He kept the round shield in front of him, ready to fight off any attack. Well, kinda ready. Sort of ready? Ok, he wasn't ready at all but he had to at least look the part.

Ortha maintained his glare on Felger. These two humans were clearly strong. Maybe in the span of a week, they would've eventually broken but not in the span of minutes. This newcomer, however, was clearly not as strong. Even from there, Ortha could tell the man was trembling. The courage on his face was a feeble bluff. Maybe a change of plans was needed.

"Tell me, what is your name?" Ortha asked politely, though the venom in his voice still seeped through.

"Doctor Jay Felger, peaceful explorer from the planet Earth."

"Felger, you idiot!" Chen barked. Felger simply recited what others SG teams usually recite when meeting a new race but Chen knew he had revealed Earth and Felger's role as a scholar in one sentence.

"I don't recognize the name of that planet. You're a long way from home, aren't you?"

"You know, the things they say about you guys, can't believe you don't care about it," Felger stuttered.

"While I cannot believe that you do," Ortha replied. "Whether you like to admit it or not, some of a civilization's greatest achievements come out of war and conflict."

"And look where that's gotten you," Felger pointed out.

"A temporary setback, one that's about to be corrected," Ortha replied. "You see the device behind me?" Felger simply nodded. He did see the room of crystals. It felt like he had stepped inside a giant geode. "Our brothers and sisters lay in those crystals. And you shall release them."

Felger felt a chill in his spine.

"I don't know how your machines work," he pointed out.

"Then it is good this is not our technology, but Ancient. We have enough knowledge to have it perform its basic functions we do not know how to modify it."

Ortha stepped to the side and presented the control console at the corner of the balcony overlooking the crystals. The computer was definitely Ancient. He remembered that the Makhai didn't invent but steal technology.

"You see," Ortha explained. "I need someone who can make this work for us. If these two won't do it for us then they have outlived their usefulness."

The Makhai guards on either side of Hailey and Chen aimed their rifles.

"Wait!" Felger suddenly called. Hailey and Chen looked at the man in panic. Was he really considering to help them? "Tell me what I need to do, and you let us all go?"

"I'll agree to spare your lives but I will not release you. Are those terms satisfactory?"

Hailey and Chen were about to continue yelling but felt the bayonets pressed against their foreheads. Felger lowered his shield and slowly walked into the chamber and up to the control panel, still glancing at the three aliens. He still half expected them to just blow a hole in him and be done with it, but the other half knew that if they needed him for something then they would at least keep him alive for the time being.

"You just need me to beam out the people in these crystals?" Felger asked, placing his trembling hands on the control panel. This computer was definitely Ancient. Good thing it didn't belong to the Furling or Nox or else he wouldn't know what to do with it.

Ortha looked at the ceiling as another explosion shook the chamber.

"Thousands of years have weathered the data," he answered. "From what I was told, the corrections should be simple. Make whatever repairs are needed then get them out."

"Felger, listen to me," Chen barked. "The Makhai don't have the numbers to make a return. They can't take on superpowers like the Ror'char or Quinterans. If you do this, they'll definitely have the numbers for it."

"I know," Felger said as he put his first command into the Ancient computer, watching the monitor change to display the code. "You're gonna have to trust me on this one."

-.-

The drones had cleaned up the Makhai on the first floor and were proceeding to the next, the fierri right behind them.

"Sir," a voice yelled from the front. Crux jogged to join his vanguard, his rifle back in his hand.

"What is it?" he asked his subordinate, who stood at the edge of a walkway on the edge of a massive circular chasm. The fierri vanguard pointed into the distance. Crux squinted, but spotted what he was supposed to find. He could see a cage across the gorge, two fierri sitting inside waving their arms to get their attention.

"Squadron three, with me!" Crux ordered, his eyes tracing a path around the circular pit to the cage. While there were a decent amount of Makhai patrolling the pyramid and converging on their position, it wasn't that bad. They had a single drone follow them to the cages where Iado and Soren were.

"'Bout Time!" Iado cheered. "Bust open this cage and let us out of here." Crux gave one of his troops a nod, who stepped forward and placed a small wad of goop into the keyhole of the lock and placed the pushpin-like detonator into it.

"Back up!" Crux barked as he and his subordinates stepped backwards and held their shields in front of them. The goop lit up like thermite, glowing bright enough to light up that entire side of the chasm. When it died down and everyone looked back up, the entire lock hadn't just melted but completely disintegrated. Soren calmly walked up to the door and pushed it open, stepping out for the first time in a while. Iado eagerly followed.

"Give me a gun!" he ordered. "I'm keen for a little payback."

"Iado, where are the others?" Crux demanded to know. It was five fierri and two humans that went into the pyramid.

"That bastard Makhai killed them to interrogate us," Iado growled, his fist clenching. "He thought we were the higher ranking officers and spared us for information. Now give me a gun!"

Iado looked at the vanguard impatiently as they finally obeyed and gave him one of their pistols.

"Where are the humans?" Crux asked. "Did you see them?"

"I saw that bastard, Ortha, lead them to the lower levels," Iado explained. "C'mon, I'm eager to kick that crustacean's ass." Iado prepared to leave but Soren stepped forward, holding out both his hands as if he was demanding two weapons. Crux looked at the former mass murder like he was crazy for even hoping for such a thing.

"I need weapons," Soren said in his regular monotone hoarse voice. "I am more experienced with a pistol than a rifle and I prefer the hand axe."

"Not so fast," Crux said, looking at the man. "Before I give you anything I need to know why? If I recall, when we first met the first thing you tried to do is kill us. You single-handedly killed over sixty people, some of them trained soldiers. Then you agree to help us train koruga. Now you want to help us on a rescue mission. Why are you suddenly so eager to help us in our endeavors?"

Soren looked at Crux with impatient irritation. Soren was always a man of few words but not it seems like he was just ignoring the question.

"Perhaps it is the same reason you are suddenly so eager to help in the humans' endeavors," he finally replied. "You do not trust my word. So allow my actions to speak for me. Give me the weapons I seek and unleash me against your enemies. I shall release unto the Makhai the same fury I unleashed long ago."

-.-

Felger worked quickly. He knew he had to finish his work soon. Chances are the Makhai would kill all three of them if the fierri interrupted. He tried to ignore the Hailey and Chen's furious glares that he could feel boring through the back of his head.

"Is it ready?" Ortha asked impatiently, his hand still on the poleaxe he was using as a crutch. Felger finally took his hands off the keyboard and looked forward.

"It's ready," he said. Ortha walked forward and shoved Felger back, typing something into the console. Some data scrolled down the screen before the screen went blank once more.

"I'm surprised, Doctor," Ortha said pleasantly. "According to the simulation, your solution works. I thought you would try to deceive me." The computer console continued beeping as even more simulations were run.

"Run as many simulations you want," Felger suggested. "What about us?"

Ortha pressed the final button and Felger watched as the crystals in the hallway behind him began to glow.

"You no longer matter," the Makhai replied. "All simulations have just been completed."

"How'd they go?" Felger asked nervously.

"Fifty simulations: they were successful across the board."

One of the guards forced Felger to stand with his friends, who glared at him angrily.

"Felger, what the hell have you done?!" Hailey barked.

"You idiot, why did you do that?!" Chen snarled. Felger felt the blood drain from his face from their anger.

"Well," he stuttered. "I think the better question is: when was the last time I ever actually fixed something?"

Hailey's jaw dropped as she realized what Felger just did. He was a screw up through and through and there was no way he could fix the crystals. Every time he did something he always got the simulation to work but would have the project explode in his face. Felger was counting on his ability to fail.

Ortha was still at the control panel and was now awaiting the first rematerialization. Suddenly, his smile vanished as he realized something was wrong. The crystal matrices were rattling. Ortha tried to stop the process but it was too late. It wasn't sabotage; Felger did give the task his all but the idiot hadn't realized that the crystals themselves had begun to degrade after thousands of years, degrade to the point his solution wouldn't work anymore. If the crystals were as pristine as when they started then the solution might've worked. Any competent scientist would have realized this but this Felger that had made the repairs. Ortha was able to stop the process but it was too late. The crystals were irreparably damaged. He threw his head back and let out a primordial roar that shook the pyramid.

He turned and looked at the humans. He didn't care about his injuries anymore. He lifted his poleaxe. He was done with these humans. He would bring his weapon down upon these meddling rodents and execute them here and now.

A bang cracked open the air as something tore through Ortha's hand. He grabbed his wound with his other hand, roaring in pain.

"Down!" Chen yelled, grabbing Hailey and Felger and forcing them to the floor. He knew what was going on. More bullets tore through the air. The two Makhai guards turned to react, realizing that Soren was racing down the hall toward them. The fierri had to leave his comrades behind but it looks like he was going to make it in time because of that. He aimed his pistol and opened fire, his finger pulling the trigger as fast as possible. These rounds were capable of demolishing rock but it seemed like all it did to the Makhai was blow chunks out of their hardened shell. At the very least it forced the two guards to flinch, lowering their head and holding the rifles in front of their faces for just a brief second in reaction to suddenly getting pelted by rounds.

Adrenaline was shooting through Soren's body, the world seeming to slow down as his mind processed the world around him three times faster than normal. He was alone and facing three Makhai, two of them armed with rifles. Soren knew what he had to do. He aimed and fired the first two shots, the first volley hitting their mark and blowing a chunk of the shell around the guards' faces. The guards had just taken aim when Soren fired his second volley, the rounds going right into the open wounds, the heads of the guards exploding like a fifty caliber round going through a watermelon.

Ortha seized his axe once more. If he was going to die he would strike down these humans before he does.

Soren took aim but couldn't fire. The axe was high in the air. Even if he killed the Makhai on the spot, the weight of the weapon would fall on the humans regardless.

Soren holstered his pistol and took out his twin hand axes. Weapons in hand, he charged at his foe. With a single swing, he drove his axe blade right into Ortha's head. It wasn't enough to penetrate the shell but it was enough to send the Makhai leader stumbling backwards. He roared furiously, turning on the fierri. Soren didn't have the shield that Crux did, and the poleaxe had a much longer reach than his hand axes. Upon that, the Makhai's shell was not going to be penetrated so easily with the axe strikes. But Soren was more than experienced fighting monsters that seem to have every advantage. To call the wildlife of his country 'hostile' would be a severe understatement and he's survived it. Ortha was just another monster to put down.

More footsteps echoed through the chamber as Crux and his men soon arrived.

"Soren!" he called out in shock as he watched the fierri taking on the Makhai. Ortha jabbed and slashed at the fierri, the axe blade always just barely missing its target. Soren was just too agile, falling back upon his sheer speed, distancing, and timing. With every missed swing, Soren always managed to quickly close the distance and land a strike. But the Makhai shell was just too strong, the blade scratching the surface but bouncing off. He couldn't just cut him open. But Soren knew this. He was just waiting for an opening. The shell around Ortha's chest and shoulder had been shattered but he needed a better target. Finally, he saw it and his opening. Ortha took another stab but Soren simply leaned slightly to the right and let the blade fly past as he raised his axe and swung with every ounce of strength he had, driving the metal wedge into the neck of the Makhai. The shell around the head and body may have been harder than stone but the shell around its neck was weaker and Soren embedded his axe blade right into it. The shell around Ortha's neck cracked, the axe driven into the soft flesh inside. Ortha wasn't done though. He adjusted the grip and prepared to slam the axe back into Soren, prepared to take off the fierri's head with one swing. But Soren pulled his other hand back and drove the axe deep into the other side of the Makhai's neck. Soren picked his foot up, put in on Ortha's chest, and pushed. He heard the crunching of the shell and the ripping of flesh as the hook-like bottoms of the hand axe were dragged through the Makhai's neck. Finally, with a loud pop, the head came clean off, flying into the air before hitting the ground with a thump. The rest of the body collapsed in a heap, white blood pouring out of its injuries.

Seeing that it was safe, Crux jogged forward to evaluate the situation.

Felger looked up at the collapsed figure, still expecting it to get up like a zombie and attack them. Hailey and Chen stood up first, their blood still racing from what nearly happened.

"You three ok?" Crux asked, stepping into the room.

"Dandy," Hailey replied for Chen. She looked back at the crystal chamber, the once beautiful crystalline shards now melted and deformed.

"My men are currently securing the pyramid," Crux explained. "Their intention was really just to hide, not fight. It's over." The fierri led Hailey and Felger out of the chamber but Crux put a hand on Chen's shoulder to hold him behind.

"The tall one," he said. "You said his name was Felger?"

"Jay Felger," Chen answered. Crux nodded thoughtfully.

"An absolute screw-up without a doubt, but has potential. You're very fortunate to have a man like that with you."

Chen looked at Felger. Some of the fierri had crowded around him as if asking him to tell stories of his battle. Felger simply gave an awkward laugh while scratching the back of his head.

"Yes we are," Chen replied.

-.-

Felger was back in Mercer's office, his head hung low. Hailey and Chen leaned against the wall, their arms folded across their chest. As for the General, he sat at his desk before Felger. He silently read the mission report Chen and Hailey turned in. Felger looked at the old man, trying to read his expression.

"Doctor Felger," Mercer finally spoke up. Felger flinched at his name being called. Mercer was the leader of the expedition and his fate was in the General's hands. "You have certainly made quite the ruckus this time, Doctor. Disregarding protocol, disobeying orders, acting without supervision, and there are unconfirmed reports that you are the one who alerted the Makhai to our presence. And your plan at the end was risky at best. Had you accidentally succeeded then the Makhai would be back to full strength."

Felger felt his heart sink. What Mercer said was just a short list of all of Felger's screw-ups on the last mission.

"As such," the old man continued. "I have decided to follow the recommendation given to me. Doctor Jay Felger…"

Felger prepared himself. He was the one who threw the rock that got the Makhai's attention. He was the one who decided to try to find Chen and Hailey by himself when he wasn't supposed to. He was the one who helped the Makhai. This might've been the most screw-ups he's ever made in one day. He was ready for his punishment.

"Under the recommendation of Doctor Steven Chen and Major Jennifer Nicole Hailey, Doctor Felger…" Felger closed his eyes, waiting for the worst. "You will be assigned to the expedition design board."

Felger opened his eyes, shocked by what he heard. The design board was a team of scientists who didn't make anything, rather they would try to come up with ideas and plans using what they knew and would turn in the blueprints to the engineers who would make it happen.

Hailey and Chen looked at the man, who was still red as a Swedish fish. They could see the relief in his eyes, but they could see something else in it too.

"You ok?" Chen asked.

"Look, I know I have no right to say this," Felger explained slowly. "I'll admit, I'm a complete screw-up. But I went on that mission because I hoped to change all that. On the design board, I can't change anything."

Mercer looked at Chen and Hailey. This was their idea so they should be the one to explain this to him.

"I know it's not much but it's a good start," Hailey said. "No one goes the distance overnight."

"Step by step, Felger," Chen added. "I know it seems impossible now but if you give it enough time, who knows, you might even begin outdoing Hailey over here."

"I wouldn't go that far," Jennifer remarked. Felger looked down for a moment before giving a nod.

"Alright," he said. "I'll take it."

"Good," Mercer said, setting his papers aside. "It is fortunate you managed to defeat the Makhai before they made their return."

"Too bad we can't meet the humans who kicked their asses," Chen said cheerfully.

"You so sure of that?" Mercer asked. "What did the Makhai call these humans again?"

"The Terrans," Hailey answered. "Why?"

"How many Terrans are we aware of?"

Chen and Hailey exchanged glances. It was an odd question to ask.

"Well, we're technically terrans," Chen said. "Like, we don't officially call ourselves that but…"

"Wait a minute," Felger interrupted. "Terran as in Quinteran?"

Hailey felt her eyes widen. The first Fifth Race, the original human the Ancients chose to be their successors, the Quinterans had corrupted their gifts and were now, not conquerors who took land but, slaughterers who killed potential threats without discrimination.

"So you're saying the Quinterans were the ones who defeated the Makhai the first time?" Hailey asked.

"The Makhai were the original sole rulers of this galaxy," Mercer said. "The Millennium database confirms it. The Terrans used what they discovered through the stargate to defeat the Makhai along with many other enemies."

"Considering how big of a role the Makhai played in this galaxy, I guess it's no surprise word of them reached Milky Way," Hailey said thoughtfully. "So Goa'uld discovered word about them and chose to use the story of spirits of war and murder to make themselves sound better."

"I believe that will be all," Mercer interrupted, sliding his chair back and standing up. He walked to the door of his office, Hailey, Felger, and Chen right behind so they could exit. As the sliding doors opened, Felger gawked when he spotted Soren standing in the middle of the control room.

"What the?" Jay coughed. "What's he doing here?"

Mercer turned around, his expression as blank as ever.

"It is an arrangement we've made with the fierri. You see, Soren is currently in an awkward position back on his planet. Technically he should be executed because of the murders he's committed but some are reluctant since he appears to be the only survivor of the Genesis War. Then there is his eagerness to help. Imprisoning him would be a waste of his skills. But, some are suspicious of him for what he's done. So, this appears to be the best solution for them, all things considered."

"Then why's he here?"

"I believe he can be useful to us," the General replied casually. "We were never involved in the Genesis War so it is unlikely he will be a threat to us." The General walked past the fierri, giving a nod on his way past. Chen and Hailey went off in separate directions, leaving Felger staring at Soren.

"So how was your day?" Felger asked awkwardly. Soren didn't answer, only giving a grunt before walking off. "That's cool," Felger said as if the fierri had replied. "My day was like that too."

-.-

The night cycle had finally started again and Chen found himself wandering the halls. That was until he heard the familiar sound of wood being sawn through. He had forgotten. He was wandering near Terra's woodshop. Well, he was here so he might as well pop in.

As he opened the door, the smell of sawdust filled his nose. It seemed like she's been doing this for a while now.

"Terra," Chen called out when he saw her at the other side of the room, a plank of wood clamped down as she worked away at it with a hacksaw. She looked up, some of the fine powder sparkling fomo her hair. Her purple shirt was covered in the same spew of particles and they especially stood out against her jeans. But it wasn't that that Chen noticed. "Your hand's back in business!"

"Thanks to Alliance medical magic," she said with a smile, flexing her left arm as if to demonstrate. "Starting next week, we'll be back in the exploration business. I hear that you've had an exciting day."

"You know, I've been thinking about that," Chen said, leaning against a table, but immediately standing up and brushing off his butt when he realized it was also covered in saw dust. Guess he'll have to stick to just pacing with his hands crossed. "For all the crap we give him, the moment he realized his problem he chose to face it head-on all by himself. That right there's more than you or I have ever done." Nova put her saw down on the table.

"Well, there's one good thing I guess," she said, looking at him with a smile. "Neither of us will be facing our issues alone."

Chen looked at her with a curious raise of his eyebrow before just smiling.

"I guess not," he said. "Have a good night, Terra." He turned around and casually walked out.

"Night, Steven," she called back, readjusting her goggles and picking up her saw once more. Just another day in outer space.


End file.
